Parkes Area - Parkes
NSW and Australia's demographic centre, Parkes is situated 365 kilometres from Sydney, 995 kilometres from Brisbane, 1067 kilometres from Adelaide and 306 kilometres from Canberra. Parkes is a modern town of 11,200 people, with a shire population of 15,500. The Parkes Shire is made up of the townships of Parkes, as well as the smaller villages of Alectown, Bogan Gate, Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore.
From a gold rush town of last century, Parkes has progressed to become a thriving commercial centre servicing a rich agriculture district. From 1959-1961 the CSIRO built the first big-dish antenna radio telescope in the southern hemisphere 26 kilometres north of Parkes. One of the world's most powerful is has played a vital role in the detection of quasars and pulars. Most recently the Parkes Radio Telescope was the star of the popular Australian movie 'The Dish.'
The topography in the shire can generally be described as flat to undulating. The area forms part of the catchment for two main river systems, the Bogan and the Lachlan Rivers, which are major tributaries of the Murray-Darling Basin System. Most watercourses in the Shire are not permanent, being reduced to a series of waterholes for the majority of the year.
Rainfall varies across the Shire with the eastern part receiving slightly more than the western part. From the rainfall data gathered over the past 104 years the average rainfall per annum is 588 mm.
The shire can experience climatic extremes with typically hot conditions in the summer months and regular frosts in the cool winter months with occasional snow on higher ground. The average daily temperature for the summer is 30 degrees Celsius and in winter 16 degrees Celsius.
