Orange
Home of The Wiradjuri people. A convict settlement was established in the 1820’s, which was named Blackman’s Swamp after James Blackman. Orange was named by Thomas Mitchell, who was an associate of the Prince of Orange in The Peninsula War. Graziers began occupation of this region in the late 1820’s.
Orange is renowned for its fruit produce, mining and tourism also are significant in this region. The cold season last for 3 months, Jun-Aug, with average temps of O deg overnight to 12 deg as a daytime high.
Forbes
Stop for a break in another beautiful Central West town in NSW. pop 7000. A lot of wheat and broad acre crops are grown out here. Does have periodic flooding. John Oxley an early explorer of this region was not impressed with the clay soil and poor timber and swamps and he concluded “it is impossible to imagine a worse country” Who needs good soil once you find gold John? 30,000 moved to the goldfields in the early 1860’s.
One of Australia’s famous bushrangers, Ben Hall was shot dead by police after a series of robberies. Ned Kelly’s sister Kate Kelly lived in the town, drowned whilst saving an Aboriginal child during a flood. Both are buried in Forbes.
Parkes
Decided to replace my old antenna with a new satellite dish because I wasn’t able to tune into Mars. No problem now can even receive Pluto.
Parkes has a pop. of 10,000 and is part of the Wiradjuri people, the largest language group of NSW.
It is named after the father of Australian Federation. There is an annual Elvis Festival here.
But it is most famous for its radio telescope situated 20klm from town.
The Dish is 64 mtr diameter. It was built in 1961, but it is a thousand times more sensitive than when it was built. It weighs 1000 tons.
Moon Landing
NASA had a facility in Honeysuckle Creek near Canberra which was being used to transmit the moon landing, but was switched to Parkes because the quality of the feed was better quality. Just as Buzz Aldrin activated the camera to capture the moon landing Parkes captured the feed and for the next 2.5 hrs the world watched. All 600 million, a fifth of the worlds population.
The Australian film The Dish was based on this event. Great film & music from the period.
Dubbo pop 45,000
Lovely town situated on the Macquarie River which eventually finds it way across the plains where it meets the Darling River. Warm temperate climate, with cool to cold mornings in winter.
Dulhunty occupied The Dubbo Station in the late 1820’s. But John Maugham built a homestead (1840) on his 26,000 acre farm. It was a sheep station and the homestead still stands today. Lamb and mutton is still a major export to the world from this region.
Some lovely period building are scattered throughout the town.
Also managed to catch a movie. Mission Impossible. Very action pacted and enjoyable.
