A project that resulted in the planting of thousands of native species of trees is the Parkes nominee for the NSW Environmental Citizen of the Year Award to be announced on World Environment Day on Sunday, 5th June. 

The Kokoda Biodiversity Offset Project at Northparkes Mines won this year’s Environmental Award on Australia Day and became our shire’s nominee for the prestigious state award that recognises the incredible efforts from NSW citizens working towards creating a more sustainable environment in their local region for the benefit of the whole community. 

Northparkes Mines bought the Kokoda Biodiversity Offset in 2014 to establish a conservation area to transform degraded farmland into a functioning woodland, protected in perpetuity under a voluntary conservation agreement. 

In 2019 the mine engaged local labour provider Skillset Landworks as a partner in the delivery of the project to train and employ local Land Works crews that provided the opportunity for local people to gain valuable skills and experience for their future career. 

The crews rehabilitated the conservation area with tree planting and revegetation management plans. The 350-hectare area consists of open grassland and dense woodland and was targeted for its connectivity between national parks within the Mandagery landscape. 

The project set out to restore 37.3 hectares of degraded grassland to a Grey Box Grassy Woodland community, reflective of the surrounding plant community types. 

Over a period of 18 months, more than 18,000 individual plants comprising 30 different native species were planted in the area and are now thriving. The work also supported the local community, with recruitment acknowledging Australian traditional owners who received TAFE accredited qualifications and employment. 

The Environmental Citizen of the Year Awards was started four years ago and is an initiative of The Australia Day Council of NSW in partnership with Return and Earn. 

A month after the Parkes Elvis Festival the main street closed again on Sunday for a birthday celebration.

The 12th Birthday Flash Bash of the Inkredible Experience Tattoo Gallery was a festive event drawing a large crowd on a beautiful, sunny day with a car and bike show, food fans, market stalls and lots more entertainment.

“Proud to say the day was a huge success and definitely started some very important conversations,” said business owner Trevor Smith. Trevor and his partner Courtney used the opportunity to raise funds for mental health as May is Mental Health Awareness month.

“We managed to raise $1572.30 selling raffle tickets for items donated by stall holders and surrounding businesses, sales of shop merchandise, a $1,000 tattoo voucher from our studio and a donation matching the amount raised.”

Trevor said mental health was an ongoing conversation in the studio and a concern in small communities and in his industry. “Over my 15 years tattooing I have unfortunately lost a large number of clients/friends to suicide and sat with a larger number struggling with mental illness. I started campaigning a movement I called #talktoyourartist imploring any tattoo clientele to use their time with their tattoo artist as an emotional release and for artist to be open to discussing their life troubles and any options available to people struggling.

‘We hope to kickstart conversations about mental health in the studio once again and include more on call services for our clients like the amazing ‘safe haven’ a few shops down,” said Trevor.

The idea for the celebration grew from last year when Inkredible decided to throw a small party and included a few friends with cars and bikes.

“The event somehow gained its own momentum as an actual car show with live entertainment and food,” said Trevor. “Fast forward to the celebration this year we upped everything ten-fold to include more kids’ activities, more live musicians, local food vans and market stalls, more prizes and give aways and of course fundraising for mental health.

“We’re hoping with a larger window for advertising, the 13th birthday flash bash should see even more entertainment added and an even bigger turn out.”

All kinds of visitors turn up at the NSW Parliament House, but it is not every day that a giraffe takes centre stage.

The nation’s favourite giraffe, Healthy Harold, visited Parliament House last week to provide an update on the important health and safety messages he is sharing with hundreds of thousands of students across NSW.

Minister for Education and Early Learning, Sarah Mitchell met with the famous Life Education mascot about the organisation’s new online program providing students with the tools to recognise, react and report inappropriate online behavior and content.

The Minister said kids were spending more and more time online, and teaching them how to stay safe and be responsible and respectful online was increasingly important.

“Life Education undertake really important work to help students to make safe, heathy choices throughout their life and I am pleased to see they are also taking their program online,” she said.

“I am proud to be a Life Education Ambassador and have fond memories of participating in the Healthy Harold program when I was at school.”

Life Education NSW CEO Jonathon Peatfield said more than 250,000 students throughout NSW were set to benefit from the Life Education program this year, thanks to the new delivery methods. 

“Supporting teachers and schools to help educate students on these difficult contemporary issues is so important,” he said.

Healthy Harold and the Life Education team visit more than 1,500 primary, preschool and secondary schools across NSW, delivering important programs which give children the crucial skills needed to make safer and healthier choices for life.

Ub Ubbo Exchange celebrated 75 years of diplomatic ties between Australia and the Philippines with a debut album launch and Reflective exhibition earlier this month. 

Ub Ubbo, a non-profit foundation, promotes creative talent by organising projects, exhibits, and cultural exchanges in both countries. 

The exhibition, held on a farm in Queanbeyan, featured artists from the Parkes Shire and the Philippines and was opened by Jim Snow, former Member of Parliament for Eden-Monaro and supporter of Ub Ubbo. 

Jim said he loved that Ub Ubbo shared and acknowledged culture that creates an exchange for more knowledge, education and better communication. 

“Art is used to build relationships between different beliefs and start conversations,” said founding member of Ub Ubbo, Sean James Cassidy. 

The exhibition included works from local artists with Scott Sauce Towney’s pyrography (wood burning), Scott Turnbull’s emu egg tempera painting and Sean James Cassidy’s marquetry and oil painting. Lope Bosaing from the Philippines had his ceramics on exhibit. He is also a founder member of Ub Ubbo. 

The event started with a smoking ceremony conducted by Jahmarl Towney and Bradley Mapiva Brown, with Wiradjuri elder Robert Clegg and Wiradjuri representative Steve Parker in attendance. 

The Riverina Electorate campaign launch for the National Party took place in Cooke Park last week with Member for Riverina Michael McCormack and Member for Parkes Mark Coulton.

Michael said he would prioritise the labour shortage and cost of living in Parkes if he got re-elected. “These are the two major issues for this electorate, and I will be working on programs and projects for both of those.”

He said while there was a whole host of other issues, like action on climate and national security, he’d been talking to business people who just could not fill their positions, and families were worried about the cost of living.

Michael said the labour shortage was largely because of the 90,000 backpackers the country lost during COVID. “I don’t think people realise our reliance on overseas labour in hospitality, farming, agriculture, meat processing and other positions.”

He said even in the Central West hundreds of backpackers made a huge difference in the labour market. “Often these positions were word of mouth. One person would work on a farm near Forbes and go home and tell their friends about the great farmer where they could go and work. When the backpackers left and did not come back for two years, that word of mouth broke down. The backpackers came here in their droves and spent a lot of money.”

Michael said while the Australian Agriculture Visa (AAV) program was introduced to address workforce shortages in the agriculture sector and backpackers were slowly coming back, the Pacific labour hire program still needed to be enhanced.

“The problem is we cannot invite people back to Australia who are not vaccinated and this is impacting the numbers.”