We do not always know about the hidden treasures in our community, but on Wednesday two local women were recognised for their outstanding volunteer work.

Margaret Haddin from Parkes and Judi Unger from Peak Hill received awards from Member for Orange Philip Donato MP in recognition of their inclusion in the 2020 Hidden Treasures Honour Roll with 102 other rural women.

Hidden Treasures is an initiative of the NSW Department of Primary Industries’ Rural Women’s Network. The aim of the program is to formally recognise and thank inspiring rural women volunteers within NSW rural, regional and remote communities.

“The Hidden Treasures award recognises the women volunteers who really go ‘above and beyond’ in what they do for the local community,” Phil said.

“These women ensure the viability of several important community groups and charities; without their contribution many local initiatives we take for granted would just not be possible.

“It’s an honour to be able to celebrate women volunteers who give so much of their own time, effort and dedication to their community.”

Phil thanked them for their invaluable contribution and said: “Our region is incredibly grateful for all that you do.”

Margaret thanked her husband Robert for his support over the years, Marg Applebee for nominating her and the Parkes community for their support. She said the nomination came as a big surprise and that it felt good to be acknowledged.

Judi said she was very grateful for the nomination, but felt there were so many more deserving women who should be nominated. “The older you get, the more time you have to give to projects. When you are in a small community, there are not so many people with expert knowledge to help out.”

Margaret Haddin biography:
Margaret grew up in South Sydney, and move to Parkes in 1979 with her husband Rob to establish an engineering business and raise four children. She has contributed her time to Landcare, both locally and regionally over the past 10 years. Four years ago she joined the committee for Parkes Meals on Wheels, once again contributing her time and skills. She is still contributing endless hours each week to Landcare and Meals on Wheels. Margaret has been an active member of the Parkes community for more than 30 years, volunteering her time and knowledge.

Judi Unger biography:
Judi’s passion for empowering people in rural communities was nurtured during her formative years on the family farm east of Peak Hill. She chose teaching as a career, and when she retired as deputy principal at Parkes Public School in 2012, she left a legacy of personally created and innovative teaching resources and programs, which are still being adopted throughout the state. In the mid 1980s Judi and her husband Ray be-gan to convert their conventional farm north-west of Peak Hill to an Australian certified organic biodynamic broadacre enterprise. They now host annual workshops and field days to share their journey and knowledge. She is serving on the Board of Biodynamic Agriculture Australia while studying organic and biodynamic farming. Judi’s passion is to support women in agriculture. She also uses her photographic skills to promote arts and crafts and tourism.

Parkes residents are privileged to have access to about 11 national parks and reserves within an hour’s drive considering only nine percent of the state of NSW is conserved.

In addition, the Lachlan Valley Branch of the National Parks Association organises two to three bushwalks per month in these national parks run by knowledgeable and skilled volunteers who are keen to share their knowledge.

President of the Lachlan Valley Branch Martin Bell encouraged residents to explore these parks at the Australia Day awards ceremony in Cooke Park last month when he accepted the Environment Award for 2021.

“We do not organise hikes, but ramble in the parks and state forests and take our time to appreciate the birds, other wildlife and countryside,” Martin told The Parkes Phoenix. He said a long day would be a 10km walk, but most of the walks are five to eight kilometres. “This means you don’t have to be super fit and everybody is welcome to join in.”

He said a typical day would start at 9:30am, include lunch on a log or rock somewhere and end by 4:30pm “We normally see between 40 to 50 species of birds, and also have members who are very knowledgeable about biology, geology and botany.”

According to Martin participants will not only gain new knowledge, and enjoy the trees and solitude of the bush, but they will also gain a better understanding of the natural environment and why it is so important to conserve it.

He said there were so many interesting and unusual things to see and discover, like the threatened Glossy Black Cockatoo and endangered Swift Parrot, as well as seasonal birds from Papua New Guinea, like the Dollar bird. “We often come across interesting goannas and snakes, and as Parkes and Forbes are on the intersection of the coastal and desert districts, there is a great variety of plants and birds to observe.”

With some of the best parks in NSW on our doorstep, another benefit is that these parks never have large crowds of people like those closer to the cities.

As COVID-19 has restricted travel opportunities, Martin said it was a good time to join the Lachlan Valley Branch walks as it offered locals a great opportunity to discover spectacular scenery close to home. He said numbers had started to increase since COVID with about 12 people joining a walk.

The Lachlan Valley Branch is also involved with the Forbes Arts Council’s Gum Swamp bird hides and the Lachlan Valley Sculpture Trail projects, while Central West Lachlan Landcare (CWLL) is very supportive.

The Lachlan Valley Branch will be supporting two events of CWLL over the next two months.

On 24th March the Get to know the Glossy Black Cockatoo workshop will take place in Parkes. The day includes a presentation by photographer Warren Chad, as well as an overview of the Glossy Black project from Local Land Services staff and then a field trip to Lake Metcalfe to talk further about Glossy Black habitat, some bird observation and a bird count and finish up around 1pm with BYO lunch at Lake Metcalfe. (Also see details on page 4 of the call for volunteer counters for the Great Inland Glossy Count.)

On 7th April the Securing the Swift Parrot workshop will take place with Saving Our Species Team Leader, Energy, Environment and Science, Matt Cameron as guest speaker. The Securing the Swift Parrot project aims to stabilise or improve the trajectory of the Swift Parrot by 2023. They are nationally listed as critically endangered. The Swift Parrot is unique as it feeds in the Central West during winter on flowering Eucalypts and Ironbarks, then flies to Tasmania to breed over Summer.

More details of these workshops are available on the Central West Lachlan Landcare website.

If you would like to join the Lachlan Val-ley Branch bushwalks, due to start again from next month when the weather starts cooling, look on the Parkes Shire Council’s What’s On page, or on Central West Lachlan Landcare Facebook page, get a copy of the program at the Parkes Visitors Centre, or contact Martin Bell on 0429 346 586.

By Maggi Barnard

The Parkes Endeavour Dragons decided to re-enact a challenging Sydney race on its home turf and include the rest of the Western Region clubs when COVID derailed plans of participation.

The Parkes Dragon Boat Club (PDBC) had trained hard right through the Christmas break for the famous 8km Bei Loon challenge on Sydney’s Pittwater, but COVID uncertainty saw the team cancel its plans about two weeks before the race date.

Coach Beth Thomas and sweep Bill Thomas came up with a plan to invite all the clubs in the region to do the race at Lake Endeavour. On Saturday about 100 paddlers from seven clubs turned up for the event with some quirky surprises on the course offering teams the opportunity to circumnavigate a makeshift Scotland Island, while a miniature of the famous Wild Oats yacht was anchored in a small bay.

Each of the five teams recorded their own distance and time as the five teams started the challenge at ten minute intervals. Dubbo Outback Dragons did the fastest time of 44:41. Parkes came in second in 46:54 and Colour City Dragons from Orange third in 47:53. The combined teams of Forbes/Pinnacles/Mudgee and Bathurst/Parkes were fourth and fifth respectively in 49:50 and 54:32. Six members of the Parkes team did two races back-to-back to help make up numbers in the Bathurst boat.

“The day was a roaring success,” said Beth. “Our Lake Endeavour was just filled with joy!” She told her team: “You’ve made Endeavour Dragons a hit in the Western Region.”

President of PDBC Tony Gatt said the sportsmanship and camaraderie reflected the intention of the invitation and all who attended enjoyed the day. “Special mention to Bill and Beth and the rest of the PDBC members for their hard work leading up to the day. Our sincere thanks to those who travelled and joined in. We look forward to many more.”

Messages from the participating clubs came pouring in with several saying it should become an annual event. The Colour City Dragons said: “Thank you for having the foresight and determination to organise our very own regional 8km challenge.” They said the inclusion of the quirky elements added an entertaining touch to the day.

The Dubbo team said they were thrilled to paddle around Scotland Island for the first time! “We’ve paddled Bei Loon five times and never got to do the island. (Getting to paddle around the real island is often hampered by bad weather when the course has to be changed.)

The organiser of the Bei Loon challenge George Webster could not believe that a Western Region version of the challenge took place. “I am absolutely lost for words… fabulous and in fact quite touch-ing,” was his reaction.

Just like at Bei Loon, each team went home with a lovely trophy, and memories of a fun day with fellow paddlers.

By Maggi Barnard

Australia Day celebrations were not only shrouded in COVID regulations this year, but the culturally sensitive day also saw protests in the cities as the controversy of the date has deepened in the country.

In Parkes the official ceremony went ahead in Cooke Park with the main focus the announcement of the Australia Day Awards. Numbers were limited under strict COVID rules, and the Australia Day Ambassador, who was from Sydney, had to cancel his visit. The scaled down celebrations also saw the singing of the national anthem that included the change to “For we are one and free”.

Referring to the current climate surrounding Australia Day, Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith OAM started off his speech saying he had been reading a lot of early Australian history over the past 12 months and the terrible treatment of the aboriginal community. “I can fully appreciate the desire to change the date,” he said.
The 26th of January is controversial as it marks the start of Australia’s colonisation when the First Fleet arrived in Sydney in 1788.

The Parkes Phoenix asked the co-chair and secretary of the Galari Lachlan Reconciliation Group, Eileen Newport about her thoughts on reconciliation and Australia Day. She said Reconciliation NSW asked that all Australians remember our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the first peoples of our land when celebrating Australia Day. “It is a time to remember and celebrate their survival against great adversity.”

She continued saying Stan Grant said in a 2017 article: “It is a ‘damaging myth’ that Captain Cook discovered Australia.” He said that Australia was founded on three grand stories: the First Nations, the British tradition and the richness of our migration story, but that ‘Indigenous people become a postscript to Australian history’.

Eileen said we needed to go one step further and study the history of our land, the government policies and practices of our land and decide if they are fair and just for all people. “We need to look further than our own spaces to see how we can improve health, education and job prospects.

“The plaque near my front door reads: ‘As you take your next step remember the first people who walked this land’, but we need to do more than just “remember them”. We can be a positive voice for improvement and if that includes changing the date that Australia Day falls on then that at least should be an item for discussion.”

By Maggi Barnard

Maree Tanswell fits right into the magical Christmas scene where she stands next to an elf with a giant 10-foot Santa towering over them keeping an eye on his sleigh and reindeer and all the other elves adding to the entrancing scene in her garden in Molong street.

“I just love the spirit of Christmas, ever since I was a child.” Maree’s fascination with Christmas took her all the way to Finland five years ago to cross the Arctic Circle and visit the Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi in Lapland where she met the ‘real’ Santa Claus.

“He reinforced everything I believed in,” said Maree pointing to her prized photo with Santa, which has a special place in her house every Christmas. “He did an exceptional job. I heard him speak six languages and he even knew where Parkes was!

Visiting that village where you could see Santa’s sleigh, feed the reindeer, send your Christmas letters and of course shop to your heart’s content, was the highlight of my fascination with Christmas.”

The impression lasted and when Maree saw a giant Santa in a shop in Newcastle last year, she just had to buy it. Luckily for her, the Santa can collapse, “but he still filled up my whole car!”

Santa needs elves, and this year Maree travelled to the famous Bredbo Christmas Barn north of Cooma where she found a beautiful set of elves. “I had to get the whole set, as their faces change every year! The owners of the Bredbo shop travel all over the world to get their supplies.” She also added the sleigh and reindeer to her ever-growing collection this year.

Growing up in a family where watching the stars has always been a big thing, artist Sean James Cassidy was left with stars in his eyes recently when a prestigious science magazine featured one of his artworks on its cover.

The Australian Physics edition, which coincided with the heritage listing of the CSIRO’s Parkes Radio Telescope, used a section of a larger work of Sean, which is on permanent display on the Woolworths wall in the main street of Parkes called Radio Telescope.

Sean’s digital art work is based on a poem by his aunt, Kerrie Peden also from Parkes. The work depicts the importance of the harvest as the radio telescope sits in farming land. Native animals represent Goobang National Park to the east and hand prints signify the human spirit that has reached out and touched the moon.

The featured work is one of three based on poems by Sean’s father and Kerrie that are on permanent display and were installed for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, in which the Parkes Radio Telescope played a vital role. The other two works are called Blood Moon and Millenia Wandering.

“It was an honour to be featured, and it was really important for this year,” said Sean. “It has helped me to reflect on my work, and made me realise I need to look after my own art while championing the work of others.” He said it was good to be reminded that he was doing a good job.

 

Going to university has never been so easy for Parkes residents with the Country Universities Centre (CUC) officially opening its doors last Friday.

The Parkes CUC is one of six new centres to join an existing network of six across NSW facilitating tertiary education to 760 students in their home towns.

The CUC is housed in the new state-of-the-art Parkes Library offering a hub for students enrolled at any Australian university to have free access to study spaces, high-speed internet, modern technology and wraparound student support.

“I have always had the firm belief that your postcode should not determine your potential,” said Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack at the opening. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to pursue their passion and receive a quality education.”

Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education Andrew Gee said young Australians who lived in our major cities were twice as likely to be university educated as regional students. “CUC help level the playing field to address this disparity. We want more people in regional communities like Parkes to be able to engage in tertiary education while remaining in their local area, developing skills and qualifications that will help them secure local jobs.”

CUC Manager Jacob Cass said nine students had already registered, and he welcomed prospective students from across the Shire, Forbes and Condobolin to make use of the centre. “The CUC is not a university, but I am here to facilitate, look at different options and help you register.”