Parkes

Parkes is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia.

Parkes is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the main settlement in the local government area of Parkes Shire. Parkes had a population of 11,224 as at 30 June 2018.Parkes is part of the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people, the largest language group in NSW with a country of more than 120,000 square kilometres.

The Wiradjuri people have lived on the lands of the 3 rivers, including the Lachlan River, for more than 40,000 years.

The town of Parkes was part of the colonial expansion of the early 19th century, 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).In August 1873, Henry Parkes (later Sir Henry) visited the area and in December 1873 the town was officially renamed Parkes in his honour. (Sir Henry Parkes is recognised as having played an instrumental role in Australia becoming a unified and federated country.)

Bushman's Lead Post Office opened on 1 August 1872 and was renamed Parkes in 1873. In March 1883 the first local government, Parkes Municipal District (redesignated as Parkes Municipality March 1906), was proclaimed. In January 1981 it was amalgamated with Goobang Shire to create Parkes Shire.

The railway from Molong via Parkes to Forbes, was officially opened on 18 December 1893.Parkes attracted significant attention during the gold rush of the 1870s onwards, and to this day modern mining companies have sites in the region.

In 1939, Parkes became a sister city with Coventry in the United Kingdom, Sir Henry Parkes birthplace.

Parkes' first newspaper was the Forbes and Parkes Gazette, founded and conducted for many years by H. H. Cooke.This was followed by the Parkes Independent.The Parkes Chronicle published by W. McNamara was amalgamated with the Parkes Independent which was subsequently purchased by Charles Reynolds; and later again, by George Washington Seaborn.In 1891 came the Parkes Examiner.The Examiner was still operating by 1901, edited by Alderman Harry Bowditch who acquired it in 1893.Commencing in 1894 was the Western Champion by M. J. Little and D. Cameron.At a later time, Cameron also acquired the Independent.In 1899 the Champion was purchased by 1899.Later journalistic ventures included the Western Reminder and the Western People.The Examiner was renamed the Parkes Post in 1923, before becoming part of the Champion company in 1926.By 1934, these were merged to become the Champion Post.

During World War II, Parkes was the location of RAAF Station Parkes, and RAAF No.18 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 14 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).

Parkes has a humid subtropical climate, with significant temperature variations between summer and winter. Under the Köppen climate classification, Parkes lies in the transitional zone between humid subtropical (Cfa) and semi-arid (Bsk) climates. Summer maximum temperatures average out at 32 °C (90 °F), however frequently reach 40 °C (104 °F) each year. Winters are cool and partly cloudy, with cold fronts bringing periods of light, misty rain with low maximum temperatures, and occasionally even snow. Rainfall in spring and summer usually falls as thunderstorms, with an annual average of 587.5 mm (23.13 in) of rainfall. Extreme temperatures have ranged from -4.2 to 45.5 °C (24.4 to 113.9 °F). Parkes is considerably sunny, having around 135.0 clear days annually.