The annual Coffee with a Cop event took place on Monday morning at the Roasted Kombi café. At least 40 people braved the freezing cold conditions to meet officers from Parkes Police to discuss community issues and build relationships. “We are really happy with how it turned out,” said Senior Constable Daniel Greef.

Father’s Day is fast approaching and making it a special day for dad can sometimes be difficult. There are a lot of options to consider from what to buy, where to eat or which activity to do.

As new research has shown the significant and wide-ranging health benefits of spending time outside, why not give Dad a nature fix this year?

The Parkes Dragon Boat Club is putting on a special Father’s Day paddle and barbeque on Sunday, 1st September at Lake Endeavour from 9:30am to 2:30pm.

Everyone over 12 years is welcome to try out a paddle. Otherwise it is a wonderful outing to the lake to enjoy the peaceful environment with bird life and lots of options for some hiking. There will also be a kids’ fishing competition with a prize for a fish caught. Tackle will be provided.

Pack a picnic, chairs and utensils and spend Father’s Day at Lake Endeavour, and give the whole family a precious gift of time in nature.

The skies over Parkes are set to soar with an exciting and new event next month. AirVenture Australia will be held at Parkes Regional Airport from 20th to 22nd September attracting up to 3,000 attendees flying and driving in.

All things aviation will be on display including a high energy airshow, joy flights, kids activities, food, drinks and entertainment, trade and exhibition displays, an aviation- based STEM and careers program and a BushCat Aircraft Build project.

One of the most exciting program items is the AirVenture Australia STEM and Careers Exposition for students with the aim to encourage ongoing involvement in aviation.

The program consists of two elements: a week-long Aviation Engineering Work Experience Program with the objective of assembling a BushCat recreational aircraft from a kit, and the Aviation Careers and STEM exposition. It will be a one-day education program on 20th September for up to 150 school aged students.

The aim is to provide students with an insightful and hands on experience of the aviation Industry, plus the various career pathways available in Australia, including maintenance, design, fabrication and remotely piloted aircraft systems.

Only limited positions are available – nomination forms need to be in before 25th August. Visit airventureaustralia.com.au

The 11th very real, and at times confronting mock crash demonstration held at the Parkes High School last week once again brought home a very important message to about 500 students from three shires.

The mock crash demonstration, aimed at Year 10 students from the Forbes, Parkes and Lachlan shires, shows a realistic scenario involving a single vehicle accident and response by emergency services. It aims to improve the attitudes and behaviours of young drivers and passengers as particularly red P platers are over represented in crash statistics across the State.

“Locally, a 27% reduction has been recorded in crashes involving young drivers since the program commenced 11 years ago,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Belinda Coe.

“We work in partnership with NSW Police, SES, and Ambulance NSW to bring home this important message.”

Central West Police District Crime Prevention Officer, Senior Constable Daniel Greef, said: “It’s vitally important to make these scenarios as realistic as possible to show young people what actually happen on roads.

“We based this scenario off actual crashes involving young people in this area.” The demonstration starts with establishing scenes to introduce the four characters, tells the audience what led to the crash, and then there is a full emergency response.

While times are trying with the drought and downturn in the agricultural and retail sectors, the Parkes economy has been given some reprieve thanks to government and private sector investment.

Parkes is experiencing unprecedented investment by State, Federal and Local Government injecting millions of dollars into infrastructure projects such as Inland Rail, the proposed Parkes Special Activation Precinct, the Newell Highway Bypass, the Parkes Main Street Revitalisation, Cooke Park Multipurpose Centre, Parkes Library upgrade and Central West Family Daycare expansion.

This investment wave has given the private sector confidence with Pacific National investing in a $35 million Parkes Terminal Development and the recent approval of a $23 million advanced food manufacturing facility.

In addition to investment in the Parkes National Logistics Hub, further projects over the next 12 months include a new solar farm, the $200 million expansion of Northparkes Mines and progression of Clean TeQ’s $2 billion Sunrise Mine project.

Parkes Shire Council’s General Manager Kent Boyd PSM said a total of 165 development consents were issued by Council in the 2018-19 year at a value of $66 million, an increase of 176% based on the previous year.

“It has been a long-term vision of the Parkes Shire community to develop Parkes as a national logistics hub and inland port. The Special Activation Precinct will provide a step change towards this vision,” Kent said.

Working Together For 25 Years

Spinifex Recruiting – still known to locals as GWS Personnel – is renowned for having a mutually beneficial working relationship with Northparkes Mines.

What is lesser known is that Northparkes Mines was Spinifex Recruiting’s very first client some 25 years ago.

“I founded GWS Personnel in April 1994 and negotiated the Northparkes contract. We are very proud that they continue to be a prestigious client of ours after 25 years and that our strong relationship continues as Spinifex Recruiting,” said Peter O’Donnell.

Spinifex Recruiting can be found in many departments of Northparkes Mines and have been heavily involved in various projects.

Some of these include the Employment Program with Greencorp, and working on both the Tunnel Boring and Open Cut Projects.

Spinifex is also proud to have been involved in assisting in the Integrity Project that advocated in supplementing the gender percentage ratio on site, the ongoing relationship with the Wiradjuri Executive Committee and more recently the Ventilation Project.

“It is great to see many of our placements successfully transitioning to Northparkes gaining full time employment. Many commenced with GWS on site and continue to be still at Northparkes!” said Recruitment Consultant Wendy Cheney.

The entire Spinifex team, past and present, would like to congratulate Northparkes on their milestone – “… here’s to 25 more!”

Commitment To Improvement And Community 

Northparkes is the world’s most automated  underground block-cave mine. This achievement has been five years in the making and takes people out from underground allowing them to control the loaders from an airconditioned room on the surface.

“We are committed to continuous improvement. We embrace technology, adapt quickly and find new and smart ways of doing things,” said Managing Director Hubert Lehman. “We will also continue to focus on our commitment towards our local communities as we strive towards achieving our vision of a century of mining together.”

For over two decades, Northparkes has helped with the growth of the Parkes and Forbes Shires. Through salaries, funding programs, Northparkes has been able to deliver improved outcomes that have made a lasting difference to the communities of Parkes and Forbes.

“The support and encouragement of our community, in particular both Parkes and Forbes Shire Councils, has been instrumental in our success. We are extremely proud of the positive and supportive relationships that have been built over the years. I would like to formally extend my thanks to both the local communities of Parkes and Forbes for their continued support over the past 25 years,” said Hubert.

“I have always been incredibly impressed with the passion and the drive of the people who come to work here each and every day. To all the people who work here today and to those that have come and gone, each and every one of you have played an integral part in what we are celebrating.

The people are what make Northparkes the place it is today!”

Earlier this year, Northparkes announced the approval of the E26 Lift 1 North Project and the Expansion Project. A total of $300M will be invested in Northparkes over a threeyear
period to support these projects. This investment demonstrates CMOC’s confidence in the sustainability and longevity of Northparkes.

 

A large number of Fitzgerald descendants will converge on Burcher and Forbes on 14th September to celebrate the proud pioneering heritage of their family.

Edward aka Thomas Fitzgerald came from Dublin to Sydney on the Tyne as a 15-year old convict in 1819 and was buried in the Forbes cemetery in 1878. Thomas’s surviving children with wife Mary Gorman were Ann, Margaret, Richard and Mark.

“Mark Fitzgerald was my great-grandfather,” said Beth Thomas of Parkes who is looking forward to the reunion. “He was a pioneer of note in the Forbes District, building the first timber bridge over the Lachlan River on the Newell Highway and later opening the hotel at Moonbi in the roaring days when two Cobb and Co coaches travelled daily from Condobolin to Forbes via Moonbi.”

“He was a thorough bushman,” said Beth’s sister, Susan Harvey of Gosford, “After following the gold diggings of Bathurst, Grenfell and Forbes he selected his property, Uplands, of Wamboyne.”

Mark married Annabella Thorpe, who was the first schoolteacher of a school in Parkes. They had 16 children, three of whom drowned one tragic day in the care of their nursemaid, whilst their mother was confined in late pregnancy with a son, who died a year after.

The immediate descendants of Mark and Annabella were Harrisons of Condobolin, Rileys of Goolagong, Andersons of Clear Ridge, Joneses of Girral, and Fitzgeralds of Wamboyne and Sydney.

Offer and acceptance is the critical factor when considering what is a valid contract. If person A offers to do something and person B unconditionally accepts that offer and communicates the acceptance to A, then there is a concluded agreement. However, if A makes an offer and B responds with a counter-offer, there is no agreement and neither party is bound.

Every day we enter such simple contracts at the supermarket or newsagency or on the internet. Most contracts are not written but are verbal. There are some contracts which, by law, must be in writing (such as an agreement for the sale of land), but agreements can, in certain circumstances, be oral as well as written. An additional facet is what is called “part performance,” which is where one party performs or partly performs an agreement, and the other party accepts those actions. In this case there is a contract. Some essential ingredients of a contract are:

• a concluded agreement between the parties
• an intention that the agreement be legally binding
• some benefit must be given by one party to the other (this is called consideration)
• the consent of the parties must be genuine, that is not mistaken nor under duress
• the parties must be legally capable of entering into the agreement
• the purpose of the contract must be legal.

Generally, anyone over 18 has legal capacity to enter into a contract, but there are limitations regarding people with intellectual disability or mental illness. Credit contracts and agreements regarding land must, by law, be written. Otherwise, valid verbal agreements will be enforced by the Courts.

Contact us at Matthews Williams on this or any other legal matter.

 

Everyone in Parkes can have their say through an online survey or submitted by mail or email on maternity services for our town. The Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) is currently looking at options for the delivery of maternity services at the Lachlan Health Service.

Expressions of interest were called for in local newspapers and social media, inviting parents who have recently used, or expect to use, maternity services in Parkes and Forbes to participate in focus groups.

The broader community can have their say in the online survey.

According to WNSWLHD Parkes and Forbes combined currently have less than 250 births occurring each year. “In spite of repeated attempts to recruit doctors with training in obstetrics and anaesthetics – both of which are required to offer a full medical maternity service – vacancies have led to births currently only being available at Forbes hospital,” said Kate Fotheringham, Media Manager Western NSW Local Health District.

While these recruitment issues persist, the WNSWLHD is encouraging the community to consider other models which could continue to see births occurring at both facilities, potentially with one hospital accepting low-risk births that could be performed under the supervision of a trained midwife.

Several options are outlined in the community consultation survey, with the community invited to consider the current circumstances and have their say on these models of service.

The WNSWLHD Board is due to consider plans for Lachlan maternity services, including the feedback provided by the community and consumers, before the end of 2019.

Links to the online survey, and to a printable version can be found at www.wnswlhd.health.nsw.gov.au Consultation will close at 5pm on Friday, 23rd August.

Patrons of Wholesome Blend in Parkes have found nourishment of a different kind since the introduction of a book exchange at the coffee shop about 12 months ago.

Owner Cathy Littlewood said she initially bought a small book shelf and within two days it was overflowing. “We asked for book donations on our Facebook page, and the reaction was overwhelming.”

The idea is that people can either swap books or take a book for a gold coin donation for the local branch of Can Assist. “We have a tin on our counter, and have had to get a bigger one too for all the donations.”

The bigger shelf, donated by Can Assist, has a good variety of books including all genres of fiction, as well as non-fiction and children’s books. “People enjoy picking a book and sitting down to read it, or they choose a book while waiting for their coffee and often walk out with one under their arm,” said Cathy.

“We have clients who come in regularly to swap books, while it is also very popular among travellers. It is great to offer this service as times are hard and books are expensive, and it is all going for a wonderful  cause.”

Next time you are cleaning out your book shelves, remember the Wholesome Blend – it’s also a great spot to have a coffee alone as books are great company!