Last Friday saw an exciting event at the Parkes Early Childhood Centre (PECC). It was the premiere of a song and video clip called Fire Heart and was the culmination of a several years-long project.

Children from PECC and invited guests attended with the Welcome to Country, delivered by Geoff Anderson.

The project arose from discussions between Lindy Farrant, much-loved Centre’s previous director and Sean James Cassidy, local artist and former pupil of PECC. The idea was to create an installation to introduce the young children of Parkes to the culture of this area’s First Peoples, the Wiradjuri.

The concept Sean developed, took the form of six story branches which had been shaped and patterned by the natural world, growth, the weather, animals and insects. These were then added to with carvings of Wiradjuri iconography by Scott Sauce Towney and Scott Turnbull.

Children at PECC explore the six new carved story branches.

Each of the six story branches represents a word encapsulating PECC’s values; care, create, kind, truth, respect, share. It is hoped that the story branches and their textures will help to stimulate interest and imagination, providing a different avenue for learning.

The video clip that accompanies the song features the voices of some of the children at PECC. Under the tuition of Kelly Thompson, the children were recorded speaking the six words in Wiradjuri. These were then highlighted with animated sign language, creating a video clip in three languages, English, Wiradjuri and Auslan (Australian sign language). Sean’s uncle, Paul Cassidy, who was born deaf, provided his expertise for the signing actions and said it was a privilege to be included in this project. The song Fire Heart was written by Jason Murchie with the backing of the Parkes Wiradjuri Language Group and features Drew Farrant-Jayet, Lindy Farrant and Bill Jayet’s son, playing lead guitar. Other elements of the music include sound samples of locally played didgeridoo and bull-roarer mixed to produce the sound of a human heartbeat.

The song Fire Heart now joins its part-ner song Nuganirra which was released previously and was selected to represent Mother Tongue Day in 2021.

You can access the song and video clip on Ub Ubbo Exchange’s Facebook page.

By Kerrie Peden

The closing date for the 2022 Jack Scoble University Scholarships has been extended until Friday, 4th February. If you are a Parkes Shire student undertaking your first year of full-time university studies in 2022, then this is for you!

The scholarship provides funding to put towards tertiary studies, such as the purchase of a laptop and textbooks, or relocation and accommodation costs.

If you haven’t received your HSC results yet, you can still apply by simply submitting an application without the results. Once you receive your results, you can send them via email to council@parkes.nsw.gov.au. To learn more and to apply, visit: https://bit.ly/3npopki

At the meeting in December were at the back (L-R) are Anthony McGrath (Acting Director Customer, Corporate Services & Economy), Brendan Hayes (Director Planning and Community Services), Cr Jacob Cass, Cr George Pratt, Kent Boyd (General Manager), Cr Glen Wilson, Cr Daniel Webber, Cr Bill Jayet and Ben Howard (Director Operations). In front are (L-R) Cr Kenny McGrath, Cr Louise O’Leary, Mayor Ken Keith OAM, Deputy Mayor Neil Westcott and Cr Marg Applebee.

After the NSW Local Government Elections in December last year, 10 councillors were elected to represent the Parkes Shire.

A total of 19 candidates contested the election, with six of them forming a group. All six councillors who stood for re-election were voted back in, and four new candidates were elected. A total of 8,824 votes were cast, which is a turnout of 83.1%.

As part of the December Council Meeting held just before Christmas, the elected councillors chose to say either the oath or affirmation to signify their acceptance to represent the Parkes Shire in local government.

During this meeting, the election for Mayor and Deputy Mayor was also held. Cr Ken Keith OAM was re-elected Mayor and Cr Neil Westcott was elected Deputy Mayor. The first-time councillors are Marg Applebee, Jacob Cass, Glen Wilson and Daniel Webber.

The first Council meeting of 2022 took place on Tuesday, and Mayor Ken Keith congratulated all the councillors on being elected as part of the team to take the Parkes Shire Council forward for the next three years.

Councillors were appointed to the various Council committees at the meeting.

“I am so excited to be taking on committee roles on behalf of Council with so many of our wonderful local organisations who give back to the towns and villages that we live in,” said first-time Councillor Marg Applebee on her Facebook page after Tuesday’s meeting.

Another first timer Jacob Cass said he was “incredibly honoured to recite his Oath of Office and officially take on the title of Councillor for the Parkes Shire. I look forward to what we can achieve in 2022 and the remainder of this electoral term.”

After nearly eight years in the ‘hot seat’ Dan Fredericks facilitated the Parkes writers group Author-rised for the very last time this month. Saying farewell to him were standing (L – R) Peter Colbourne, Heather Veal, Matthew Kennedy, Benson O’Donnell, Laura Harvey, Rex Veal and Jay Richards. Dan in front is holding some chocolate cookies that Benson made and decorated to say “Farewell Dan”.

While I was an original member of Author-rised when it started in August 2012, I wasn’t working for Parkes Library then. I commenced as facilitator of the group in 2014, when it became one of my work duties.

However, it was never a chore, rather a labour of love. To be able to research the many topics of writing, and see writers hone their craft and improve has been most satisfying.

Writers have been part of special projects – such as Stories on a Coffee Cup and the Skywriters Anthology – as well as taking part in many writer festivals. The Stories on a Coffee Cup was a unique concept where every café in the Parkes Shire received free coffee cups. Each cup had one of three different (very) short stories or poems. To improve the mood of the experience, these short stories and poems were written on serviettes!

We have had author talks, writing workshops and even hosted an editor! One of the most popular features of an Author-rised session is “Share If You Dare”, where writers can choose to share a piece of their writing and ask for feedback.

Author-rised is a supportive, positive place for writers of all abilities, from ages 13 to 113! While my aim was to see it become a great place and space for writing; each Author-rite has contributed to creating and maintaining the encouraging environment where writing can flourish.

I would like to thank Parkes Library staff for their continued support of the group, as well as each Author-rite who has contributed over the years.

By Dan Fredericks