The descendants of the first free settlers in Parkes came together for a reunion over Easter to celebrate George Field selecting land on the Billabong Creek in March 1866, 150 years ago. About 130 descendants of George and his wife, Amelia reunited to reflect on this great milestone. Over the last 150 years over 300 direct descendants of George and Amelia Field have been born, with many of those still alive living in Parkes today.

George and Amelia came to Australia from England and though it’s not known exactly when George arrived, they both came to the Parkes district separately in the 1850’s. Amelia arrived in Melbourne aboard ‘The Northumberland’ in 1852. She married William Faraday in 1854, and by 1862 she, William and their surviving infant Amelia came to Forbes. William died at the end of 1862 and twins William and Mary were born in February 1863.

Amelia then married George Field in 1863 and they both operated The Royal Mail Hotel, an inn on the western side of what is now the Back Yamma Road, near the Amelia Field Bridge. The first child of George and Amelia, Susannah, died just days after her birth in 1865. Lydia was born in February 1866, and in March of the same year, George and Amelia selected 96 acres on the opposite side of the creek to the inn. Catherine was born in April 1868, followed by Charles Wheeler Field in February 1870. Sadly husband George died at the age of 51 in July 1872, leaving Amelia a widow again with six young children and pregnant with a seventh who was to become George Frankling Field, born in February 1873.

The original land selected by the first George is now in the hands of his great grandson Donald George Field and this
is where the reunion began on Saturday where descendants gathered at the Amelia Field Bridge in the beautiful autumn weather. This was followed by a picnic lunch at the Parkes Christian School where members of the family set up displays. One was of vintage musical instruments and wooden craftsmanship by Janice Cassidy, Kerrie Peden and Mark Field, the children of Clifford Field Jr and descendants of Charles Wheeler Field.

Jacquelyn Greenland, the great, great granddaughter of George and Amelia, spoke of the family history in brief. She had compiled a family tree book for the reunion. Kerrie Peden read a story she had written based on a year in the life of her grandfather Clifford Field Sr when he was a small child. She also read two of Clifford’s poems while Rob MacGregor, another great, great grandchild, led those gathered in a prayer of thanksgiving. Cleaver, the granddaughter of Catherine (nee Field) and Alfred Miller, was present to cut the celebration cake. At 92 Nancy is the oldest living descendant of George and Amelia Field. She was accompanied by two of her sons, Murray and Bruce and her two grandchildren. The grandchildren and great grandchildren of George Frankling Field – including not only those who bare the Field name, but also the MacGregor name, own and farm a number of properties mainly in
the Back Yamma area of Parkes to this day.

Entries are open for the third Northparkes Rotary Fun Run on 22nd May! The event, which will begin and end at Harrison Park, caters for runners and walkers over distances of 5km and 10km, as well as a 2km race for the kids. “The course is a great combination of flat and undulating terrain down Nash Street and back along Back Yamma Road for the 10km competitors,” said event organizer, Scott Westcott of RunNSW.

Scott, who grew up in Parkes, is an Olympic marathon hopeful and will be competing on the day in preparation for the Rio Games if he is selected for the Olympic team. The course record of 36.25 for women in the 10km event was set by Jane Fardell from Dubbo, while Dubbo’s Len Darlington holds the men’s 10km record of 35.58 but with over 300 competitors expected to enter records could be broken! At the launch of the fun run last week, Mayor Ken Keith
said the event was another example of the great works of Parkes Rotary Club, one of the busiest Rotary Clubs in the
state. Stacey Kelly of Northparkes Mine, the major sponsor, said the event would also be raising funds for Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), a charity assisting over 14,000 people affected by autism each year.

Early bird entries are $10 for kids, $20 for the 5km and $30 for the 10km, plus a t-shirt for 10km runners. More information is available at www.parkesrotaryfunrun.com.au.

10,000 native flora need planting and you are invited to help! Central West Lachlan Landcare, in a joint effort with the Parkes Shire Council, are looking for a natureloving crew to put the finishing touches to a brand new constructed wetland area for Parkes at PAC Park. Anyone who would like to get out and be part of this community effort is invited to join in planting native water plants and grasses on Saturday 26th March from 9am until 11am. “If you are not as mobile as you used to be, but want to get out and provide support, bring your chair along and supervise,” said Marg Applebee, Project Officer at Landcare.

The bottom half of PAC Park that includes the weir on Woodward Street has been dredged and cleaned of all silt and sediment over the past three weeks. The next step is to put in the plants that will attract water birds, eastern long-necked turtles, yabbies and other small native animals and insects to the area. “This wetland is very important” said Michael Chambers, Environment and Sustainable Co-ordinator at Parkes Shire Council; “Apart from Bushman Dam, it is the only area of water in our urban setting.”

The planting project will be ongoing for two hours every month with the involvement of Parkes High School and Currajong Disability Services. Anyone wishing to join this worthwhile community project can contact Marg on 6862 4914 for more information.

By Maggi Barnard

Walking from Parkes to The Dish is definitely not a Sunday morning stroll, but three young sisters are doing it every year to help those less fortunate. The 20 km walk Molly (11), Ruby (9) and Nell (8) Smith will do on Sunday is a mere drop in a bucket of the long distances girls and women living in poverty walk every year just to get to water,
food and firewood. Many people in developing countries cannot just turn a tap, they have to walk an average of 6km every day to get to water.

Molly was only 8 years old when she was inspired to help kids less fortunate, after she read about the annual ‘Walk in her Shoes’ campaign. “My dad runs the Dish Café and we always thought it would be fun to walk there one day” she said. The next year sister Ruby joined in and last year Nell was up for the challenge. “I like doing it because it
makes me feel happy for the girls who will benefit from the money raised” Ruby said.

The $3,000 they raised last year was used to provide necessities such as water closer to home to give girls more time for school and to enable women to earn an income to help their communities step out of poverty. The inspiring walk of the three sisters has had a ripple effect in the community, with many of their classmates at Middleton

Public School and friends wanting to join in. More than 50 people are expected to walk on Sunday.

Manager of Westpac, Dean Messiter and his team have been showing off their cooking skills this week in a bid to help some of Queensland’s worst affected drought areas.

The staff set up a barbecue outside their building on Clarinda Street and fed hungry passers-by to assist the Burrumbuttock Hay Runners in their quest to deliver much needed feed to farmers in Queensland. “People have been very generous, one man bought a sausage sandwich and paid $100!” said Katie, who works at the bank.

“In total we’ve managed to raise $610 from one day of barbecuing so we’re looking at doing something bigger next time to raise even more” said Dean, whose brother, Andrew, is one of the runners, “Andrew is really excited to be part of the hay run this year, it’s his first time and he just wants to give back to the farmers that have helped our country.

He’d like to give a big shout out to Brendan Farrell, the organiser of the run, who donates his time and own money to the organisation.” The Burrumbuttock Hay Runners have completed 10 successful runs, managing to deliver 5,000 bales during their last round, and are hoping to make this an eleventh. If you’d like to donate to this cause, the Rotary Club of Sydney handle all monetary donations and their details are as follows; BSB: 062 438, ACC: 10211156, description: Drought Appeal, as the runners are not an organisation, just a bunch of blokes trying to help out fellow Aussies.