Parkes

Music

Today, it's one giant leap for our road trip as we meet the Aussie hero of the moon landing and a local artist whose work is featured on our dollar coin. Commence countdown. Hello, Parkes! On day four, we swung through a gorgeous part of New South Wales, which was also an awesome place to break up our road trip. It's the home of the Elvis Festival. Hubba hubba. But many people don't know the crucial role this place played in one of humanity's most incredible moments. 

Welcome to Parkes. Sister city of Coventry in the UK. Now don't get me wrong, Coventry rocks. But can it boast the slick piece of engineering that helped us view the most famous moment in human history? That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. Back in your box, Coventry. Today, we're visiting the CSIRO Parkes Radio Observatory, known to millions as The Dish. I've always thought that it's an innate part of the human condition to look towards the skies and wonder, 'what is going on out there?' Well, thanks to Aussie ingenuity, we've looked at the skies not just with our eyes, but with some of the greatest devices the world has ever built, including The Dish. 

And I think the only person more excited than myself about the Apollo 11 moon landing and Australia's role in the mission is CSIRO's Operations Scientist John Sarkissian. We were one of three stations around the globe actually detecting, receiving the signal. But when they switched to Parkes, the picture was so much better, they stayed with Parkes for the remainder. So the world was able to witness that historic moonwalk with the greatest possible clarity, thanks to the Parkes telescope and to the Australian engineers and astronomers who worked here. And on that day in 1969, Australia showed the world what it was capable of. It's truly an icon of Australian science. And parents, you'll love this. The observatory is a device free zone. This powerful telescope could detect a mobile phone on the surface of the moon. So I'm sorry, kids, you can take selfies, but you can't post them. And here's a little bit of trivia for you. Despite what you saw in the hit movie The Dish, they never actually played cricket up there. But the gaffer type markings used as stumps in the movie still remain. 

Whilst John continued to feed my inner nerd with talk of Azimuth jacks and Solar time, the kids satisfied their inner hunger with the world famous Dish pies. 

Parkes, and the surrounding region, sits proudly on Wiradjuri land. And it's an incredible community. The Wiradjuri language is taught in public schools, and it's a real example of how modern and ancient Australia can coexist. Someone who can speak to this is local Peak Hill artist Sauce Towney. His work has featured on everything from a one dollar coin to the famous Parkes art trail. The multicultural society that we've got now, you know, it broadens the spirit even more. And it brings a lot more together, I think. So to share that with more people and they bring their own little Australian spirit into this world too - into this area. Well that's awesome! I think that that's awesome. And more of us get together and bring people together and, and share it all. That's one of the reasons why I'm doing the Wiradjuri patterns. 

And just a few weeks after we visited, it was announced that the newly Heritage Listed Dish was gifted a traditional Wiradjuri name, Murriyang. What a great decision to honor the world's first ever astronomers. So next time you're in Parkes, pop into Murriyang and join the ancient tradition of looking to the skies and wondering. Next up, us city slickers get our hands dirty with farm work and visit some old family friends. And I sit with a mate on a boulder. Trust me, it rocks. I love an Aussie road trip. If you're loving the Aussie spirit that we've encountered on this road trip, well it doesn't get much better than Australia's best talent uniting for the annual Australia Day Broadcast. Catch it on your ABC, 26 January, 7.30pm

Sam, we'd love to welcome you back to Parks for the letter "P" in your virtual tour of Australia. From A to Z, Parks, of course, is home to the radio telescope, the iconic dish, and also our world-famous Elvis Festival. "P" is much more than just Parks; it's for so much more. You can strike a pose in January or all year round. Public art such as this is created by our local artists and it represents the icons around our region. Hear the sound of the universe at the Parkes Radio Telescope. The Dish Cafe's award-winning pies are out of this world. The Parkes Aviation Museum has a wonderful range of historical aircraft on display. Parkes Shire is home to 11 classic Aussie pubs. Parks is the friendliest town in Australia. We love to dress up and have fun. We want you back in Parks, Sam Mack. Thank you very much.

Parks National Logistics Hub is central to Australia's transport network. We originally came to Parks for three months and we've stayed for over ten years. It opens its doors to new people, new opportunity, and new businesses. In Parks, you can do more, you have more time to do things while still having an amazing career. Parks is at the crossroad of the nation. We're very fortunate about our logistics location. We have been planning to open our doors for investment for a very long time. We have looked very satirically at how we plan. We set aside the land for the Parks National Logistics Hub over ten years ago, which means we've got very good buffer zones in place, which means that urban encroachment hasn't gone into that area. We have two fantastic anchor tenants, being SCT Logistics and Pacific National. We have federal government investment of eight point four billion dollars coming through with inland rail, with Paxton our mind being the first part which is a 300 million dollar investment. We have the Roads and Maritime Service looking at doing a bypass of Parks at the moment of the new highway connecting that area. This area is on the verge of something big.

Today I'm Jim O'Donoghue from Newmars Milk Run. I love finishing off the run here at the Roasted Combi Cafe because I love the coffee, and I love combis. Nothing beats a cruiser and the combi. 

We love exploring the heights of Memorial Hill and the fantastic natural play environment down below. We also love taking the short trip out to the famous dish and grabbing some fresh scones and dish jam, and kicking back with the kids for a picnic. 

We want you back in Parkes.

Hi, I'm Tiffany Steel from the Parks Elvis Festival. I grew up rocking and rolling with my parents, bobbing and weaving since we first hailed back in 1993. Especially, you'd hear Graceland's where the festival all began. You can now come and stay here yourself; it is now a modern boutique hotel. 

I love browsing my favourite local store, Kaluga Creations, the fabulous vintage and retro wear. It's the perfect place to get festival preps. There is so much to explore and see in Park. Rock back in time at the Henry Parks Museums and explore the fabulous art trail featuring the King. We want you back, all dressed up and ready to party in Park. [Music]

When I tell people about the career that I've had in parks, they really can't believe all of the opportunities that I've had. 

I've been able to work on a world-class festival with the Parks Elvis Festival, and it's been a really wonderful place to raise our young family as well. We built our family forever home over the last couple of years. It's a home that will grow with the family as well. 

The kids are ecstatic; they absolutely love it here where we live, here on a nice quiet cul-de-sac. The kids can be out front playing with no concerns safety-wise, and it's just a good place for the kids to grow up. I think the important thing for our family is juggling and working together to achieve what we've achieved. So between my husband and me, we balance our work schedules and our life schedules to enable us to manage our family life.

 The lifestyle that we've created in parks has enabled us to do that successfully. I definitely recommend it as a place to live, a place for progressing your career. You get more chances, more opportunities out here. There's more things to sink your teeth into. For my job, I cover quite a bit of the state, and also, we've got our head office in the city in Sydney. I can actually get to our head office quicker than my colleagues in Parramatta. 

So there are many benefits to living in parks. It's been great for our career, for our family. There's plenty of opportunity. It's hard to put my finger on just the one thing about it. It does really all add up.

Hi, I'm Casey from the Railway Hotel and Heart Bar Parks. My favorite thing about the Park Shire is the people and the way we all support each other in our local businesses. I love visiting M'lady de la Bella for a facial and then having a cocktail right here on our table our feet. Make sure you give it a go when you're next in the Park Shire because we want you back.