Parkes, New South Wales

Parkes is a town with a population of approximately 10,500 (as of 2004) located in New South Wales, Australia. It is also a Local Government Area (see Parkes Shire). Parkes is located on the Australian transcontinental railway line, and the Newell Highway linking Victoria to Queensland.

1 Parkes today
2 History
3 Geography
4 Transport
5 Born in Parkes District, NSW
6 Festivals
7 References

[edit] Parkes today

With the presence of the nearby Parkes Observatory, Parkes has had an important role in the scientific community. In addition to local research conducted at the radio telescope, Parkes scientists have assisted NASA for several missions as a Southern Hemisphere relay and communications station. (The movie The Dish was based somewhat loosely on the role the telescope played during the 1969 Lunar Landing.)

A rich variety of farming is conducted in the region immediately surrounding Parkes, although the staple farming is most definitely wheat and wool.

Parkes is also supported by a gold and copper mine north of the town.

Parkes became a key country location after the completion of the railway in 1893, serving as a hub for a great deal of passenger and freight transport up until the 1980s. Unfortunately as successive governments reduced the NSW country rail systems, this part of the economy was largely lost to the community. Nevertheless, FCL runs a significant intermodal operation at Gooobang Junction on Parkes' eastern outskirts.^[1] On 20 October 2006, Premier Morris Iemma and with the help of Dylan Hood,opened Specialised Container Transport's intermodal terminal nearby on a 296 hectare site. It has 5km of rail sidings, a 7,400 square metre warehouse and about 40 staff.^[2] An even larger terminal to be sited nearby is also being promoted.

Periodically governments and businesses have raised the topic of an "inland port" whereby Parkes' local air-port would be expanded considerably to serve as a starting point for domestic and international freight destined for areas in the West of NSW. It is yet to be seen whether this option will eventuate for the town.

[edit] History

Parkes was originally founded in 1853 as the settlement Currajong, named for the abundance of kurrajong trees in the local area by the settlers, but was then known as Bushman's (from the local mine named Bushman's Lead).^[3]

In 1873 ^[4] the town was renamed to Parkes in honour of Sir Henry Parkes, otherwise known as the "Father of the Federation". (Sir Henry Parkes is recognised in Australia as having played an instrumental role in Australia becoming a unified country.)

Parkes attracted significant attention during the gold rush of the 1870s onwards, and even to this day modern mining companies still have sites in the nearby region.

[edit] Geography

Parkes typically has a reasonably dry climate, with winter temperatures rarely lower than 0 degrees Celsius overnight. During summer however daytime temperatures can soar to as high as 40 to 45 degrees Celsius, although temperatures in the low to mid-30s can be considered more the norm.

[edit] Transport

Parkes has a local bus service provided by Western Road Liners, which acquired Harris Bus Lines in March 2006.

Indian Pacific
Broken Hill	↔	Parkes	↔	Lithgow

[edit] Born in Parkes District, NSW

Stephen Davies (b. 1969), Australian field hockey player
David Nash, linguist
Scott Westcott, Commonwealth Marathon Runner

[edit] Festivals

Parkes hosts an annual Elvis Presley festival in early January to celebrate Presley's birthday and to boost tourism. The first festival, held in 1993, was a one night event attracting 200 people. Over the next few years more events were added and the festival was extended to two days with a few hundred people attending. By January 2005 the attendance had increased to 3,500 people. In January 2006 there was a 40 per cent increase with 5,000 seeing the festival and it injected an estimated $8 million into the Parkes economy.^[5]

The 2007 festival had over 60 events and was held over five days. More than 6,000 visitors were estimated to have attended. A new world record was set for the most Elvis impersonators in one location.^[6] SBS Independent commissioned a half-hour documentary on the festival, Elvis Lives in Parkes, which was shown on Australian television on 10 January 2007.^[7]