TOURISM BOOST… The Dish and Parkes Elvis Festival received a major funding boost this week to upgrade facilities and erect replica gates of Graceland at the Visitors Information Centre. Celebrating the announcement at the Parkes radio telescope were founders of the Parkes Elvis Festival Anne and Bob Steel (middle) with Elvii Al Gersbach (left) and Anthony McGrath (right).
MORE TOURISTS
Parkes will soon be home to a replica of the most famous gates in the world of rock ‘n roll thanks to a grant of the NSW Government’s $30 million Regional Tourism Activation Fund.
The storied wrought iron gates of Graceland are among the most famous gates in the world and visited by thousands of Elvis fans each year offering a warm welcome. The replica gates at the Parkes Visitors Information Centre will welcome tourists to our town offering them an authentic experience all year long.
“The Elvis festival celebrates The King like no other event in the world and the addition of these iconic gates will bring the Memphis mansion to Parkes and have every impersonator lining up for selfies,” said Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole at the CSIRO radio telescope on Tuesday where he announced the $376,707 funding for the project, as well as $500,000 for The Dish
The gates will also be a monument to inductees to the Elvis Wall of Fame, replacing the current structure built in 1995 near Bushman Dam, with all 26 plaques honouring Australian musicians moved to the new site. In addition, stars for the yearly winners of the Parkes Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist Contest will be placed in cement around the gates. The winners will be invited back to Parkes to unveil their stars.
Tiffany Steel, Parkes Elvis Festival Director, said visitors would be able to experience the gates as if they were standing at Graceland, while a rose remembrance garden and several other iconic elements of the King’s famous house were incorporated into the design.
A major upgrade at The Dish will enhance the experience of the 100,000 visitors annually with a space-themed playground to be constructed on the lawn and ensuring people of all abilities can visit. The visitor areas will be upgraded to provide wheelchair accessible paths, automatic doors and accessible bathrooms.
“We are thrilled to improve the facilities at one of the landmarks for tourism in the country,” said John Reynolds of the CSIRO
“It is a wonderful day for Parkes,” said Mayor Ken Keith. “Tourism is so important for rural areas. We have to make sure we have things for them to see.”
It took 18 months of work for this team to get to the announcement on Tuesday that the Parkes Special Activation Pre-cinct was chosen by global company Brightmark as the site for the very first plastic recycling plant of its kind in Australia. At the announcement were Parkes Shire Mayor Ken Keith (left), Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole (right) and Kean Flanagan from Brightmark (4th from the left).
PLASTIC RECYCLING PLANT
The very first plastic recycling plant of its kind in Australia will be in operation in the Parkes Special Activation Precinct (SAP) by 2025 following a $260 million investment.
The global plastics recycling company Brightmark will bring its innovative waste solution technology to the Central West as the first anchor tenant in the SAP creating 125 jobs during the 22-month construction period and 100 permanent jobs once the plant is operational.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW Paul Toole was in Parkes on Tuesday for the announcement saying it was going to be a game changer for our community.
Processing 200,000 tonnes of plastic waste, the facility in Parkes will be the largest of its type outside the United States.
Brightmark’s Project Lead Developer, Kean Flanagan, who was also in Parkes on Tuesday, said the plastic waste would be diverted from landfill and be turned into over 100 million litres of usable, ubiquitous diesel.
“Our company is all about reimagining waste and turning waste into resource. We are giving Australia the ability of dealing with its own waste issue.”
Kean explained that the process used to convert plastic into diesel was very different to that of a waste to energy plant. “We don’t combust plastic at all. There is zero incineration as we don’t apply heat directly to the plastic. We use a process called hydrolosis, which means heating in the absence of oxygen. The process itself has zero emissions.”
In addition, the plant will operate on 83% energy use savings, 40% water use savings, and its carbon footprint would save over 70,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas as opposed to standard or mineral diesel. The economic impact of the plant would be $3 billion at the current oil price.
“We are so delighted that Brightmark made the decision to establish here, and chose Parkes out of all Australia,” said Parkes Shire Mayor, Ken Keith OAM.
“We want the SAP to be the first United Nations economic development site in Australia where we have a circular economy reusing waste materials, using energy from waste, and doing a whole range of things.”