SRH First Year Medical Students with Prof Catherine Hawke.

The School of Rural Health is excited to welcome the 2025 cohort of first-year medi­cal students, who will undertake the Uni­versity of Sydney’s entire four-year Doctor of Medicine program in Dubbo. Nearly half of the 2025 first-year cohort come from the Western and Far West regions of NSW, representing communities such as Orange, Dubbo, Brewarrina, Broken Hill, Coonam­ble, Parkes, and Forbes. They join a total of 93 medical students currently studying in the Dubbo Stream.

Charlie Todd, a student from Forbes said “I decided to study medicine in Dubbo due to it having a community similar to back home, I felt this is an ideal situation to pre­pare myself to help rural communities as I’ll be brought through the system surrounded by the issues of the health system specific to those living out in the country and hope­fully gain some insight on how to go about fixing them, as this is something I feel would be missed in the city.”

Professor Catherine Hawke, Head of Clinical School said “It’s wonderful to see so many students from our region pursu­ing their dreams to become doctors and we can’t wait to see the impact they will have—both as medical students and future doctors.”

The Dubbo Stream is delivered in new purpose-built facilities, opened in 2022 at the School of Rural Health, it builds on the University’s long history of over 20 years delivering medical education in the Central West and Western NSW.

Kyah and Katlyn Turnbull, whose artwork was chosen to feature on the new Parkes Bypass, along with Local Peak Hill man Scott ‘Sauce’ Towney.

The Parkes Bypass will connect with Wir­adjuri culture by the display of permanent artworks by a local Aboriginal artists.

In September 2024, Transport for NSW, in consultation with the local Aboriginal community, invited all local Aboriginal art­ists to submit artworks to be chosen to fea­ture on two elements of the $287.2 million Parkes Bypass project – on safety screens on the Victoria Street Bridge and on sig­nage at either end of the bypass.

Following a review of the submissions, Wiradjuri women and cousins from Parkes Kyah and Katlyn Turnbull’s design was selected to appear on the bridge’s safety screens and Wiradjuri local from Peak Hill, Scott ‘Sauce’ Towney’s artwork will feature on the signposts.

Kyah Turnbull said their design reflected Wiradjuri culture and the local environment by using symbols and patterns alongside a range of animals local to the Parkes area.

“We have used meeting place symbols and travelling lines to connect Parkes to its surroundings towns, essentially creating a map of the Parkes Shire. These include Peak Hill, Trewilga, Alectown, Cookamidg­era, Bogan Gate, Trundle and Tullamore,” Kyah said.

Reflecting on his winning submission, Mr Towney said “Wiradjuri pattern symbols serve as a visual representation of the land while the people figures are a nod to our elders who have paved the way for us.”

“Parkes is depicted as the main meeting place, symbolising its importance as a cul­tural hub for the Wiradjuri people and its outreach to surrounding towns.”

Ange Clarke, left, with her son Will, second from the right, former Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh, right, and artist Ben Quilty, second from left.

Forbes Shire Council is excited to announce advocate for inclusion and Where There’s a Will Founder and CEO, Ms Ange Clarke, as its 2025 Australia Day Ambassador.

Ms Clarke will take part in Forbes Shire Council’s official Australia Day proceedings at the Citizen of the Year Gala Dinner on Saturday 25 January, and the Community Breakfast at Lions Park on Sunday 26 Jan­uary.

Ms Clarke’s son, Will, lives with autism, and during his childhood he often struggled to be included in activities most children would fit into easily.

Determined to break the stigma around people with disabilities and be a champion for inclusion, Ms Clarke created Where There’s a Will in his name – a business that re-purposes donated cricket bats into works of art and symbols for inclusion and kind­ness. It has been so successful some bats now appear at celebrity’s homes in Holly­wood and Australia House in London.

Ms Clarke is no stranger to Forbes, hav­ing grown up in nearby Orange. She said “I’m very keen to share my story and pas­sions with the Forbes community and I can’t wait to get involved in the events over the weekend to celebrate Australia Day.”

“It’s an honour to be an Australia Day Am­bassador. You get the privilege of meeting inspiring people who have achieved great things in their community and inspired oth­ers around them to be better.”

The Australia Day Community Breakfast will run from 8am – 10am at Lions Park.

Cheers to 30 Years Festival held by Northparkes in Cooke Park to celebrate 30 years of operations and give back to the community.

Throughout 2024 Northparkes Opera­tions has directly or in partnership contrib­uted nearly 900 thousand dollars to com­munities in the central west.

One of the recipients of that funding was the Eugowra Community Children’s Cen­tre that received over $400,000 from Evo­lution Mining to contribute to their new pur­posebuilt day care centre. The donation will help to fund the long day care room in the new centre – that is set to open in 2026.

This is an extremely important facility for Eugowra as the original centre was de­stroyed in the 2022 floods and now oper­ates out of a temporary location. With more space, there will be more children who can benefit from the centre as Eugowra contin­ues to rebuild to be better than ever follow­ing the devastating floods.

The Eugowra Community Children’s Centre Management Committee said this donation will allow our community owned service to continue to provide long day care for working families in a new, purposebuilt facility. “We are absolutely certain that the impacts of this donation will be long last­ing as we can now ensure that future gen­erations of local families will have ac­cess to this critical service for many years to come.”

Northparkes Operations General Man­ager Rob Cunningham said that this is an outstanding project for Evolution to be in­volved in and really reinforces the strong commitment to support communities where we operate. “Childcare is a need through­out Australia, but Eugowra, as it recovers from the 2022 floods, is such a worthy re­cipient.

We are thrilled to partner with the team at Eugowra Community Children’s Centre and we’re looking forward to seeing the final re­sults as the build progresses,” he said.

Eugowra Flood Recovery Committee – The 2024 NSW Volunteer Team of the Year: David Herbert, Janet Moxey, Liz Mitchell, Sean Haynes.

The Eugowra Flood Recovery team were named the 2024 NSW Volunteer Team of the year at a special ceremony that was held in Sydney. The announcement was made at a Gala Ceremony in Sydney, at­tended by more than 300 community, busi­ness and political leaders.

The work of the volunteer team has be­come folklore, not just locally, but right across NSW and the entire country.

The Eugowra Flood Recovery Committee was established in 2022 to lead the com­munity recovery in response to the devas­tating flash flood that hit in November 2022.

The seven member committee – working closely with the entire town, council and state recovery agencies – set about the task of rebuilding the town and supporting its people.

Almost one million dollars was raised, volunteers recruited, and so many items and support were donated. It’s two years on, and so much has been achieved – but the work still goes on.

The Centre for Volunteering CEO Gem­ma Rygate “Few communities have been hit with something so devastating and un­expected as the people of Eugowra after the 2022 floods. Lives were lost, homes and property completely destroyed, and people faced a long and hard path to recovery.

“The flood recovery committee did an in­credible job helping to raise money, coordi­nate donations and support, and liaise with agencies on how to rebuild the town. They provided a human connection with people in the town. They gave them hope and sup­port and were an inspiration”.

Sergeant Mitchell Gage said: “We want everyone to make it to and from their holiday destinations safely this Christmas.”

Double demerit points will be in force for 13 days over the Christmas and New Year period. Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Preven­tion Officer, MelanieSuitor said that double demerit points would run from Friday 20 December 2024 to Wednesday 1 January 2025 inclusive for all speeding, seatbelt, motorcycle helmet and mobile phone of­fences.

Ms Suitor said double demerit points have proven to be an effective road safety initiative to make holiday travel safer for everyone on New South Wales’ roads.

“Traffic on roads to popular holiday desti­nations, increases by up to 50% during the Christmas and the New Year holiday pe­riod, so it is important to obey all the road rules and drive safely.

“While driving, focus on driving. Don’t al­low yourself to be distracted by your mobile phone, follow the road rules and drive to suit the conditions. Please make sure that you and your passengers are buckled up.

Parkes Highway Patrol Sergeant Mitch­ell Gage is warning drivers that they are at greatest risk of losing their licence during this period.

“There will be more Police on the roads which means a greater chance of drivers being caught if they are doing the wrong thing.

“So, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to travel, don’t speed, drive to the conditions, wear your seatbelt, avoid dis­tractions, make sure you’re well rested and if you’ve been drinking or have taken drugs – don’t drive.

Former firefighter Don Jewell (right) recounted to Orange MP, Phil Donato the events of the 1983 Mobil Depot fuel fire he and his fellow firefighters extinguished.

State Member for Orange Philip Donato MP hosted an award ceremony at the Cooke Park Pavilion in Parkes on Tuesday 3rd De­cember 2024, to recognise 10 brave local firemen for placing their lives in peril to save their town from a catastrophic fire in 1983.

“It is a true honour and a privilege to per­sonally recognise ten local heroes, who pulled off an almost impossible feat and saved their town from certain catastrophe,” said Mr Donato.

Before a gathering of invited guests and dignitaries, Mr Donato personally present­ed to each of the five living firefighters, and families of the five deceased firefighters, Statements of Appreciation signed and is­sued by Fire and Rescue NSW Commis­sioner Jeremy Fewtrell AFSM.

“On the 23 rd of May 1983, a rail tanker carriage loaded with 33,000 litres of pet­rol, which was being decanted into storage tanks at the Mobil fuel depot in East Street Parkes, ignited.

“Ten members of the Parkes Fire Brigade rapidly responded to the fire, finding the fu­el-laden rail tanker completely engulfed in flames which threatened to ignite adjacent fuel tanks that held millions of litres of fuel,” Mr Donato said.

The ten brave firefighters: Captain Gor­don Northey, now deceased; Engine keep­er Rodney Bradley, now deceased; Fire­fighter Robert Tinker; Firefighter Graham Dixon; Firefighter Roger Larsen; Firefighter Graham Thompson; Firefighter Robert Mc­Donald, now deceased; Firefighter Don Jewell; Firefighter Bruce Shanks, now de­ceased; and Firefighter John Ashcroft, now deceased.

“The fire and potential explosion threat­ened not only the lives of the responding firefighters, who fought to control and extin­guish the fire, but also the lives of Parkes residents. The firefighters placed their own lives at risk to fight this fire, each believing they would not survive it.

“It was a miracle that the tanker and adja­cent fuel depot did not explode; These cou­rageous men put their own lives on the line to save peoples’ lives and property, and they managed to succeed in defeating the fire and averting explosive disaster.

“It is regrettable that it has taken over forty years for these brave firefighters to be appropriately recognised. “It is regrettable that those courageous firefighters who are now deceased were not recognised during their lifetime, and although this late recog­nition provides them no solace, perhaps it does, for their families, fellow fire fighters and the community.

“On behalf of the Parkes community, I ex­tend enduring gratitude to these men, and their families, not only for their bravery and courageous actions which saved the town, but also for the many years of dedicated service to the community,” Mr Donato said.

A rock monument bearing a plaque was installed at Parkes’ new fire station to recognise the dedication of the firefighters who extinguished the 1983 Mobil Depot fuel fire.

Crew Members from Macca’s Forbes getting in the spirit on McHappy Day.

Aussies have rallied to help raise a remark­able $6.03 million for McHappy Day this year, with McDonald’s crew and customers showing up like never before to make this one of the most memorable McHappy Days in Australia to date.

The overwhelming support will provide more than 37,600 nights of accommoda­tion at Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) nationwide for families of seriously ill or injured children, so they can stay to­gether and close to the care they need, while undergoing surgery or treatment in hospital.

Licensee of McDonald’s Forbes and Parkes, Jenny McLeod said “The day was a huge success, with both (Parkes and Forbes) restaurants raising a combined amount of $9,500.

“We couldn’t have achieved this without our generous customers, motivated crew and dedicated management teams.

“The Parkes RFS were also greatly ap­preciated – they brought along one of their trucks and a huge bunch of volunteers, who helped with customer service and fundrais­ing on the day.”

This is the second consecutive year McHappy Day has raised over $6 million. All funds raised from McHappy Day go towards helping RMHC continue to support families in need through Ronald McDonald Houses, Family Rooms, Family Retreats, Hospital­ity Carts and Learning Program to support families through and after their child’s illness or injury.

Connecting Melbourne and Brisbane via Parkes, this 1500km rail project will complete our national freight network.

Newly released figures from Inland Rail re­veal the project has now spent close to $500 million with nearly 750 local companies on the Inland Rail alignment since construction on the project started in 2018, delivering a major boost to regional communities.

At end-September, Inland Rail had spent $496 million with local companies, with around $100 million spent with local com­panies over the last 12 months alone.

From the $496 million spent so far, around $46.5 million has been spent with thirty-six First Nations businesses in re­gional Australia, with $7.5 million spent in the last year.

Inland Rail has also continued to be a ma­jor jobs provider in regional Australia, with the project providing nearly 6,300 jobs at end-September, with just over half of these jobs being filled by local residents and near­ly 480 First Nations workers employed.

Local businesses in New South Wales and Victoria can learn how to supply to In­land Rail by visiting: inlandrail.com.au/op­portunities/suppliers/For construction job opportunities, visit Inland Rail’s construction contractors’ web­sites at: www.martinusrail.com.au/careers/Stephen Jones, Inland Rail Executive Director Program Health, Safety, Environ­ment and Sustainability, said “Inland Rail has worked extremely hard to engage with local businesses and help to bring them on board as suppliers, and.to build skills in communities along the alignment, so local communities can participate and benefit from in this once-in-a-generation project and others in the future.”

From L-R: Cr William Jayet, Samantha Bennett – PECC Financial Consultant, Bianca Coster – PECC Committee Treas­urer, Cr George Pratt, Deputy Mayor Marg Applebee, Bronnie Dean – PECC Educational Leader, Cr Joy Paddison, Amii Marchant – PECC Director, Sharnie Nagorcka – PECC Committee Vice President, Elena Nagorcka – PECC student.

Parkes Early Childhood Centre hosted a special morning tea on Friday, 8th Novem­ber to celebrate the 70th anniversary since its opening, back in November 1954.

Families were invited along to help cel­ebrate the day, and the current Director of PECC Amii Marchant, who has been in role for almost two years, took special guests on a tour of the facilities, before cutting the cake and enjoying a delicious morning tea.

Originating as a two unit preschool ser­vice with entry via Dalton Street, the Centre is still situated on its original site. In 1994, former Director, Lindy Farrant led the way to introducing the PECC long daycare service.

Fast forward 70 years and the Centre now operates two preschool rooms and three long daycare rooms. PECC has approxi­mately 200 children enrolled each year, with an average of 60 children leaving each year to move on to Kindergarten.

The Centre currently employs 40 staff, preferring to maintain their staff numbers above the legal ratio. “If a room should have two staff, we will have four,” said Amii.

“We believe in building relationships and making children feel safe and secure so they can learn and grow and develop.”

It was a wonderful celebration that was enjoyed by all. “I would like to extend a huge thank you to all past parents, children, fami­lies, employees, committee members and volunteers who helped PECC be the amaz­ing service that it is,” concluded Amii.