The Wongalea School hall at the Henry Parkes Museum filled up on Sunday for the presentation of a song on International Mother Language Day on Sunday.

The Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group with Ub Ubbo premiered the video of the song called Nuganirra, which means heartbeat.

It is about going back into the earth and was dedicated to the late Ron Wardrop (first Wiradjuri language teacher in Parkes) and Geoff Anderson’s mother, Alma Anderson.

The project was instigated by Geoff Anderson and Lionel Lovett, and the video is the result of many hours of hard work put in by Sean James Cassidy, Jason Macho Murchie, Tanjim Islam with artwork by Scott Turnbull and Ron Wardrop.

“The Ghalari Lachlan Reconciliation Group is happy to endorse this wonderful production of Nuganirra,” said Eileen Newport. “They have combined Wiradjuri language, music, graphics and performance in a unique presentation. This is their third video using this technique.”

After the launch of the video at the museum, the celebration of the day continued at the new Garradyang Cultural Garden and amphitheatre at Bushman’s Hill to recognise the past history of Parkes in order to continue on the path to reconciliation.

Eileen said that including both venues for the launch of the video was very significant as it was important to recognise past histories, then to move forward together in a spirit of reconciliation. “We need to protect both our indigenous and non-indigenous histories,” said Sean.

President of the Parkes and District Historical Society Bruce Hall expressed his gratitude for being asked to be part of the launch. “It is events like this that bring like-minded people together to make wonderful things happen.”

Sean said the group planned to release three more songs over the next three months, and these would be played on the First Languages Australia website.

The Nuganirra song is available on YouTube.

Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of NSW, and Dennis Wilson visited Parkes on Wednesday and Thursday last week as part of a wider Central West region tour.

“Dennis and I are pleased to be back on the road and delighted to be heading to the Central West,” said the Governor.

The Thursday program included a visit to the Parkes High School and the Parkes Radio Telescope where they were treated to a ‘ride’ on The Dish.

Judy Zielke, Chief Operating Officer CSIRO, and John Reynolds, Facilities Programming Director CSIRO, welcomed the Governor to The Dish.

She said it was so good to be able to experience all the tourism sites in the Central West first hand so she could go back and tell people about it and encourage them to visit the region. “There is so much to see and do here.”

Parkes Shire Council is getting $9 million in funding support from the NSW Government to upgrade seven sections of the Bogan Way (MR350N) between Forbes and Tullamore.

The upgrades will deliver safer, smoother journeys for freight operators and motorists on Parkes’ north-south freight link.

“Efficient freight networks are so critical for businesses in the bush – and projects like these play a crucial part in driving productivity and bringing businesses closer to their customer,” said Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole.

Work would start from August 2021 with the expected completion date being within two years. “It will see 25km of road being widened, upgraded and sealed around Trundle and Bogan Gate, including Boltfield Road and the crossing of Crooked Creek,” said Member of the Legislative Council Sam Farraway.

The project is valued at more than $15 million and is being funded with more than $9 million from Fixing Country Roads, $4.58 million from the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and $1.45 million contributed by Parkes Shire Council.

Parkes Shire Mayor Cr Ken Keith OAM said: “The use of high productivity vehicles is restricted in Parkes Shire and the Central West region, resulting in inefficiencies for transport of commodities. The upgrades will enable high productivity vehicles to use this route, providing a significant link for local producers to regional and state freight and associated markets.”

Deputy Mayor Cr Barbara Newton, a resident of the Tullamore area and frequent user of MR350 said: “It is wonderful that the State Government has invested with Council on this road. The proposed improvements will make it much safer for the mix of heavy vehicles and everyday passenger vehicles.”

 

Click here to listen to the owner of the Phoenix Newspaper Group, Joshua Matic discussing the impact on community newspapers when Facebook removed access to media pages this week. @ 18 minutes 00 seconds

 

The Parkes Library staff were very happy to see their workplace fill up with people again on Monday after its sudden closure early January.

The newly renovated facility has been closed for six weeks following the severe storm event that occurred on Saturday, 2nd January. All the carpets had to be replaced in the library.

“We are thrilled to be able reopen this fantastic space for our community members to enjoy again,” said Manager Cultural, Education & Library Services Kerryn Jones.

The re-opening coincided with Library Lovers’ Day. Community members were encouraged to make a date’ with the library to help celebrate the valuable role that the library plays in our lives.

Members could fill in a card saying why they love the library that went onto the wall with the display. “I love my library because it’s the best in the west,” said one, while many other commented on the friendly staff, the lovely space and all the wonderful books.

All the library programs recommenced this week, while the Parkes Country Universities Centre also reopen on Monday. To find out more, visit the CUC Parkes Facebook page, and the Council website for library activities.

As the Parkes PA & H Association would have celebrated its 140th show last year, the Parkes showground has many aged buildings including the heritage-listed grandstand built in 1890 in the late Victorian style.

Following some generous funding from the Federal Government, a lot of repairs and renovation have been done over recent months to improve the infrastructure at the showground. The grandstand required urgent replacement of seating, flooring and handrails due to its ongoing deterioration. Bird netting was also installed.

The brick luncheon room, erected in 1924 and skirting the rear of the heritage grandstand, also needed a makeover. Due to storm activity over the years, the iron roof sheeting and box guttering had deteriorated which had caused some serious leakage which partially destroyed the ceiling of the luncheon room. Also, due to a lack of ongoing maintenance, vandalism and storm damage, doors, windowsills and windows needed to be replaced.

The animal nursery and environmental shed were also demolished and a bigger and better animal nursery was built in its place.

With all the work complete, “we hope to expand the use of these spaces to other community groups including car clubs, agricultural clubs, rodeo, circus, flora/fauna exhibitions, markets and more,” said Secretary of the Parkes P.A. & H. Association Liz Brown.

She said as the 140th show had to be cancelled last year due to COVID, “we will now be proud to deliver a great show to the Parkes community this year. It will also give us an opportunity to showcase some of new facilities including the completely upgraded luncheon room, baby change room, the new and improved animal nursery and the renovated grandstand. We look forward to seeing you all there and to celebrate this achievement with us!”

– By Maggi Barnard

A free online workshop for parents and supervisors of local learner drivers will be presented on Wednesday, 24th February from 6pm

The ‘Helping Learner Drivers Become Safer Drivers’ workshop is full of practical advice and information about completing the 120 hours of supervised driving.

“We have held three of these online workshops during the second half of 2020 and had a great response from across the region,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Council’s Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Melanie Suitor. She said while the usual face to face workshops weren’t possible due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, the online delivery made it more easily accessible for participants to attend.”

“Parents and supervisors of learner drivers have a crucial role to play in making our roads safer. That is why we have teamed up with Transport for NSW and the councils across the Western Region to hold another one of these workshops via Zoom,” said Melanie.

The workshop covers the licencing system, how to use the Learner Driver Log-book including the use of digital logbooks, licence conditions for learner and P-plate

It was a real trip down memory lane for some members of the Anglican Women’s Association when they visited the Henry Parkes Museum last Wednesday.

The group of eight women decided to move their monthly meeting to the museum to watch the Art of Resilience video after reading about it in The Parkes Phoenix. They were all very impressed with the art talent among young people in the Parkes Shire saying it was wonderful that the students had such a great outlet for their artistic creations.

The video is currently being shown in the Wongalea School building at the museum. It was when someone asked if anyone had gone to school in the building, when the memory flood gates opened and the stories started flowing.

Vivienne Cunningham said her husband attended the Wongalea school and he told her how they used to hide out the back of the building and got into trouble for it. “They were probably out there smoking,” said someone with a naughty smile.

Vivienne started looking at the display of the other one teacher schools on the wall and got very excited when she found her alma mater, Deep Lead School which she attended up to 6th class. She called her older sister Loris White over and together they found some familiar faces on the photos.

“I have the best memories from that time,” said Vivienne, who is 87. “We loved playing games like Jack and tunnel ball. The tennis club was also very active. The school picnics were just wonderful – we always had raspberry drinks in big China cups.”

For Loris, who had turned 92 a few days before, the school concerts were a high-light. “I learned to play tennis at school too.” Living about 4.5 miles from the school, the Cheney sisters first went to school by horse and sulky, and later rode their bikes and eventually were taken in a Chrysler car.

Deep Lead School, about 8km west of Parkes, was open from 1888 to 1947. At the time of the Cheney sisters there were about 20 students in the school.