Parkes Phoenix Editor

Two Year 7 students of Red Bend Catholic College won the seventh annual ANZAC Day writing competition for the northern region.

Sam Airey (12) was the winner and Tyler Nicholson (13) received a highly com- mended in the competition run by Federal Member for Riverina, Michael McCormack.

Students had to write an original and imaginative short story of 250 words or a poem under the topic Anzac Day in the Riv- erina and Central West.

The 7.1 English class of Mrs Scott researched WWI and read extracts form the experiences of soldiers, nurses and Aus- tralian families affected by the war.

The 22 students had to write a story from their point of view of a school student whose parent is off serving at the warfront.

In Sam’s story he had to step into his dad’s shoes when he went off to the war to help with jobs around the house like cutting wood for the fire. “It was a little bit hard to imagine myself in that situation.”

He was very excited to have won – a first for Sam. “I was pretty excited and told all my family.”

Tyler wrote his story as entries into his diary telling how his dad left for WWI and how a few months later a day after his tenth

birthday they received the terrible news of his dad not returning.

“I found it a challenge to stick to the word limit,” said Tyler. He is excited about his first win and feels it has given him more confidence in his writing.

The two stories have been published in the ANZAC Day commemorative booklet with all the other winners’ entries.

By Maggi Barnard

Working in a male dominated industry is more of a motivator for a trail blazing Forbes businesswoman than a hindrance.

Stevie Morrison of H E Silos has been awarded an agriculture and farming scholarship by the Australia School of Applied Management.

“It looked like a great opportunity and I decided to apply for it,” said Stevie, who will be travelling to Brisbane next week for the first of three face-to-face full day sessions. She will also be attending workshops and webinars over the next six months to com- plete six modules in management training.

The accelerated leadership program is designed for women in management positions or women aspiring to be in management.

For Stevie the bursary is also a golden opportunity to network with other women with similar aspirations.

“I want to develop my leadership and man- agement capabilities,” she said. “In the male dominated industries of manufacturing and agriculture, it is often a problem to be taken seriously as a woman. I really hope to learn how to approach situations like this… and I want to become the Richard Branson of agriculture!”

According to Stevie her father, Steven Morrison, will always be her best role mod- el. “I also find inspiration from people like

Richard Branson and Larry Page. Although they are not women, I admire them for their morals and skills.”

The Morrison family business made headlines late last year when H E Silos won the 2016 Business of the Year in Sydney. The prestigious award from the NSW Business Chamber recognized overall business excellence in the areas of growth, innovation, export, sustainability, employment practices and ethics.

Stevie and her father are passionate about innovation in grain storage, but also to ensure food security in Australia and the world.

By Maggi Barnard

Six thousand spectators enjoyed the balmy weather and entertainment at the Forbes Camel Races on Good Friday.

Wookatook, owned by John Richardson of Yeppoon, stormed in to win the coveted cup. Wookatook was ridden by John’s son, Troy, who also won the Jaye Davie Fam- ily Memorial for most successful jockey of the day. Little Duke, trained by the Ainsbury family in South Australia, won the Plate and Outlaw Bobaluie, trained by Glenda Sutton from Victoria, won the consolation race.

A total of seven camel races were run with the first and second place winners of each race competing in the Forbes, Parkes and Young McDonalds Family Restaurants Cup. The third and fourth camels ran in the Stuart Brown Memorial Plate whilst those in fifth and sixth place ran in the consolation race.

Camels can run at 40 kilometres per hour for long periods of time, however, encour- aged by their riders it is possible the win- ners in Forbes reached speeds of over 65 kilometres per hour!

Not only did the Forbes Camel Races pro- vide the local community with something different to enjoy, local community and charity groups including Forbes Can Assist, Redbend Junior League, Forbes Harness Racing Club, Forbes Rotary Club, Forbes Jockey Club and Forbes Netball Associa- tion benefited from donations received as their volunteers rolled their sleeves up to assist with the event.

So why have many Forbes locals and vis- itors enjoyed camel races here for the past 16 years? Whilst attending the camel races on a family holiday in Blackall, Queensland in 2000, the late Graham Marsh was in- spired to bring the camel races to Forbes as he thought it would be a novel and great family day out. Graham’s legacy lives on thanks to the two hard working coordina- tors of the Forbes Camel Cup his daughter Lee, and Kerry Dunston.

As you are probably aware, camel’s make a variety of moans, groans and deep, throaty bellows whether racing or at rest. But did you know one of these camel noises was used to voice the character Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies?

By Dianne Collie