SFT Tour - Day 12 - Elvis, Cars and History

Our last day in Parkes was coffee and museums.

Not surprising, Henry Parkes, five times Premier of NSW, creator of public education in NSW and chief agitator for Federalism, is the big cheese in these parts. Originally known as Currajong because of the Kurrajong trees that were prevalent in the area and then Bushman's or Bushman's Lead, received a visit from Henry Parkes in 1873 and were so impressed by the new Premier that they changed the name of the town!

In town proper, we wandered up and down Clarinda St - named for Sir Henry Parkes first wife - seeking out the public art trail, which was an interesting experience. In most cases, it was either photographs or reproduced artwork on square panels (about 450mm square) but in some cases it was a statue or a sculpture. Some of them were hard to find - such as the large piece of art depicting a female astronaut, which at nearly 3 metres high should have been easy to find but it took a lot of looking and creative thinking to interpret the brochure. Of course, in one case there was a sculpture which was there without being on the brouchure. The the three and a bit metre, bright orange astonaut was kind of hard to miss in Cook Park but wasn't on the handout. I have my own theory. Orange Spaceman is actually a newer version of Gort who stands their motionless until you say "Klaatu barista mocha" and then he takes you to the best cafe in town.

Worked for us. We had our best coffee of the tour at Deja Brew and had to look twice when a Bruce Willis look alike turned up.

The Henry Parkes Centre occupied all of the sight seeing part of the rest of the day.

Sue getting all shook up

The first of three museums was the Elvis Museum. I wasn't looking forward to this experience, not because I don't like Elvis Presley but more because I just don't understand the phenomenon. In the end, just like Michael Jackson later on, he died an imensely successful but sad man who felt he had played one gig too many. The truth is probably very different than that and at 42, he still had much to offer but he seemed unable to bridge the transition between the young Elvis and create a mature Elvis. His fans never seemed to be able to escape the folklore and let him change. There is much of that in the manner in which they flock to Parkes for the festival created in his name by a couple of fans who also happened to own a pub they had called Graceland. The museum items and the story told around them highlights this loneliness. There are some prime original exhibits - clothing, album covers, contracts - and a good audio visual featuring Glen A Baker. You can't help feeling that King wasn't well served by many of those around him.

The second museum were the vehicles of the Parkes Antique Motor Museum. Chevies and Buicks and Oldsmobiles were among the cars from the USA and there were Austins and other British cars and a good selection of BSA and Harley Davidson bikes. For mine, the preposterously three-wheel Reliant Robin was the stand out as a clear indication that even designers sometimes take too long over a liquid lunch. A wonderful collection and beautifully maintained by members.

The third museum, is the nearly 8 hectares of grounds and buildings that make up the Henry Parkes Museum. Run by the Parkes Historical Society - just a group of people who love where they live and love history - its clear how lovingly it is maintained. Like many local museums, it suffers from having too many items which are the same and not really that important. There are several highlghts: the bird's egg collection, which is both large and well organised; the wall of memoriabillia dedicated to the Emmanuel Family, who lived in Parkes from 1967 and particularly the late Phil Emmanuel; the old school building; and a carriage from the Silver City Comet, a train which ran from Parkes to Broken Hill. The only negative are the sheds full of farm equipment and vehicles. Not sure who, apart from farmers, would ever look at them. We were particularly impressed with the older gentleman who was our front of house man. He had a great sense of humour and gave us a fabulous overview when we walked in.

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The afternoon was about reading books and conversation. You just love those days when the pace is of.

Homeward bound tomorrow.