Local Knox Grammar Student James Kirk at the Country Universities Centre ahead of his last Trial HSC Exam.

The Country Universities Centre (CUC) Parkes is playing a pivotal role in supporting students during this particularly tough period of the COVID lockdown.

The centre is currently supporting over 50 students from Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin and Trundle with outreach programs, virtual catch-ups to meet other students, mental health workshops, and assisting local boarding students with their trial HSC exams.

The Centre came to the rescue of Year 12 student James Kirk who is completing his HSC at Knox Grammar and cannot attend his school exams due to the lockdown. The school approached CUC Parkes and Parkes Shire Libraries to see if any assistance could be made available to James during his exams.

The Kirk family is from Condobolin, but currently live and work on a property in Baldry, about 43km from Parkes with limited satellite NBN services, which has created a real problem connecting to online education. “Having access to the CUC has been a blessing, and the space has worked so well for James’ exams,” said his mother.

For Cordelia Moon studying a CSU Path-way Course and attending the CUC virtual sessions has been refreshing and fun. “I attended the CUC virtual mental health session, and it was very helpful and it was so helpful to speak with other students and see that they have the same fears and stresses as me.”

CUC Parkes supports students from 18 different higher education providers. Students are studying a range of subjects from Agri-Business, Engineering, Psychology and Law, to varied levels from foundation programs to doctorates.

CUC Parkes Centre Manager Jacob Cass said the centre had put in place strategies to help students. “We have invited students to participate in several virtual activities including daily ‘Virtual Cuppas’, an online trivia night for students and their families and a mental health workshop presented by Tomorrow Man and Tomorrow Woman. On a more practical front, we have offered one on one catch ups with students where they can get assistance with course work and no-contact printing services.

Students can still register with CUC Parkes to access all the additional support offered straight away. To register, students can lodge an expression of interest at www.cucparkes.edu.au, call Centre Manager Jacob Cass on 0409 119 933 or email jacob.cass@cucparkes.edu.au

Two social sector organisations in Parkes have received a funding boost to help them modernise operations and improve the services they deliver.

Neighbourhood Central received $50,000 and Parkes Forbes Community Housing received $20,000 from the NSW Government’s Social Sector Transformation Fund. The Yoorana Gunya Family Healing Centre Aboriginal Corporation in Forbes also received $20,000.

“Social services organisations play a pivotal role delivering support to some of the most vulnerable people in our community,” said NSW Upper House MP Sam Farraway.

“They’ve had to adapt how they deliver services during the pandemic and this funding will help them invest in improved business processes, technology upgrades and new ways of reaching out to their communities.”

“This funding will enable grassroots community organisations to invest in practical changes that will help them remain viable long into the future.”

In compliance with the public health orders the Parkes Shire Libraries are currently closed. If you have books at home, there will be no fines for overdue loans.

HOME DELIVERY

The Library Service is starting a house-bound service for customers unable to access our Online Library. This will be a contactless drop-off of library materials – books, audio books and DVDs – to your home. Parcels could also include colouring books, pencils and some board games for loan. Please phone to be put on our roster. You can select your items from our web catalogue at https://parkes.libero.com.au/ or you can call and let us know what books you would like.

ONLINE LIBRARY

The Parkes Library’s online collection is available on our website under ‘My Online Library’. The following are the online services we offer:

1. Overdrive (also known as Libby) has a collection of over 5,000 items consisting of eMagazines, eBooks and eAudiobooks.

2. Wheelers offer access to over 12,000 eBooks and 300 eAudiobooks.

3. Indyreads provides a different genre of literature, giving access to over 18,000 items of independent Australian and international titles, classic literature and modern award-winning titles in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

4. Beamafilm is a streaming service that can be accessed from your computer, or you can download the app to access to stream documentaries and independent feature films with Australian and International content. There is unlimited access for all library members over 13 years, with the average Beamafilm stream using 500MB of data.

To access the collections above, go to your device’s app store to download the apps and login using your library card number as your username, and your date of birth (in the format DDMMYYYY) as the password.

Some of the illegal dumping that litters the beautiful forested Crown Land area between Back Yamma Road and the Parkes Hospital. Locals enjoy the area for recreation, but the increase in rubbish is a cause of concern.

The degradation of a beautiful natural area and community asset in Parkes because of a massive increase in illegal dumping is a cause of concern for residents who like to go there for recreation.

The stretch of crown land between Back Yamma Road and the Parkes Hospital is popular for walking, running, mountain biking and other forms of exercise among locals in the area.

“The illegal dumping is ruining the area,” said Rosemary Prior who lives nearby and enjoys walking there with her husband.

“In one outing we counted four washing machines, six hot water systems, six mattresses, a TV, toilet and lounge chair. It is such a shame that people treat the bush as a dump.”

Erik Lensson, who like to call the area the forest, has been going there for over ten years. He said earlier on he and his wife used to pick up some of the rubbish, but there had been such an increase in dumping and in the types of rubbish being dumped that they could no longer do it.

He had written to Parkes Shire Council with some suggestions including putting up signs to warn people not to dump.

In response to these concerns, Parkes Shire Council said: “Please be assured Council recognises the problems regarding illegal dumping, burning out of cars and weed infestation in this precinct. Substantial resources have been used in the attempt to clear the sites and control the further dumping activities.”

One solution was to limit vehicle access to the area by fencing, but Council was unsuccessful in seeking funding from Crown Lands for this purpose. “Council continues to investigate funding to fence this State-owned land.

“Council continues to provide as much assistance as possible including the regular patrol by Council Rangers for problem waste and illegal use.

According to Council measures such as clean ups, patrols and surveillance cameras at the site have all had limited success.
“Further suggestions regarding signage is recommended and Council will investigate the availability of funding from the Environmental Protection Authority to assist.

“Council notes the positive contribution of residents in the area with private works being carried out including mowing and general maintenance in and around the site.”

Anne Norton.

Many people will know Anne Norton from her years in the teaching profession, but last month she joined Project Sprouts as the new coordinator.

Anne said she had attended the initial community meeting in 2018 when Royal Far West presented its “Invisible Children” report bringing to light confronting findings about the state of children’s developmental health in rural and remote Australia. After retiring in 2019, she was keen to join Project Sprouts.

Looking at her new role and the vital part Project Sprouts play in our community, Anne said: “I would love to see children receiving timely and affordable access to local paediatric allied health services via a systematic approach that identifies, screens and provides therapy referrals.

“It will be my role to collaborate and co-ordinate with Royal Far West and the Pro-ject Sprouts Working Party for the provision of these services, and to offer access to educational capacity building sessions for teachers, parents and service providers. I will also be gathering data which will inform our future planning and reporting back to our philanthropic funders and stakeholders.”

Anne started working as a teacher in 1976 and taught at a number of schools around NSW. She moved to Parkes in 2003 when her late husband bought a business here. She joined Middleton Public School (MPS) and worked there until her retirement in 2019.

In 2014 she trained as a Reading Recovery Teacher, and is at present the coordinator of the COVID Literacy and Numeracy Support Team at MPS.

Anne is confident Project Sprouts will ensure all little children in our community are visible and have the best start to formal schooling. “In turn this will lead to confident, productive, resilient young people, who in the long-term will work and positively contribute to the Parkes Shire community.”

Spring in Australia may see more rain than usual in the east and a dry outlook for parts of the west, Bureau of Meteorology climatologists say.

According to the latest seasonal outlook issued by the Bureau, this spring is likely to bring above average rainfall for people living in the east of the country as well as cooler days and warmer nights.

Bureau climatologist Dr Andrew Watkins said predictions for a wetter and warmer spring came after a particularly wet and warm winter.

“Nationally, we’ve seen the wettest winter since 2016,” he said.

“Australia’s average winter temperature is also expected to be one of the ten warmest on record, particularly in the tropical north.”

Dr Watkins said the main reason behind the Bureau’s prediction for a wetter than average spring was a climate driver called the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD).

“We’ve currently got a negative IOD – a phenomenon which typically brings an increased chance of rainfall to southern and eastern Australia,” he said.

“This negative IOD is expected to persist throughout spring but is currently weaker than the last negative IOD event we saw in 2016, which brought Australia’s wettest May-October period on record.”