AND WESTERN DISTRICTS ADVERTISER
THURSDAY 13 August 2020
Ph: (02) 6366 8017
Email: molongex@bigpond.net.au www.molongexpress.com.au
Molong Town Centre future
Connecting the Community since 1876 $2.00 inc gst
What happened to Molong's Giant Kangaroo
Have your say
Cabonne Council is pushing ahead on Molong and Canowindra Town centre future planning. Following on from initial consultation, Urban Design experts Sala4D are returning to Molong and Canowindra in late August to conduct a series of consultation and drop-in sessions to gauge your desires for a functional and sustainable Town Centre. Initial consultations led to a draft issues paper for both towns, with current strengths and weaknesses, as well as a history of the towns. Feedback was invited on these papers, and the next stage of the design process is commencing. Urban Design is about creating places that you want to spend time in. At the Town Centre meetings and drop-in sessions come and tell us about the kind of Town Centre you want. • Do you want your Town Centre to change? • Do you want a place that's easy for quick visits?
See P4 • Do you want a place where you linger? • Do you want a place for town events? • Who are the people that we need to cater for? Sala4D will be using these consultations to translate your needs and desires into a design that can be built. The sessions will take place in Molong on Monday and Tuesday the 24th and 25th of August, and in Canowindra on Wednesday and Thursday the 26th and 27th of August. There will be a mix of day and night time sessions,
with COVID safe plans in place for all sessions. See adv on page 14. For more information and to register your interest or book a time to speak with the consultants, please contact Council’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator, Emma Tadros, on 0419 719 632. (Above) An artist’s mpression of several of the species whose fossils were discovered at the South Walker Creek site, including giant kangaroos, lizards and crocodiles. CREDIT:QUEENSLAND MUSEUM
Csiro’s Parkes radio telescope added to National Heritage list
The iconic Parkes radio telescope, otherwise known as The Dish, has been officially recognised for its contribution to Australian astronomy and humankind’s understanding of the Universe with its addition to the National Heritage List. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley announced today that the telescope, owned and operated by Australia’s national science agency – CSIRO, is the first functioning scientific instrument to be added to the list. Construction of the 64-metre diameter telescope at CSIRO’s Parkes Observatory was completed in 1961, an achievement of engineering and technical design. Now almost 60 years old, the Parkes radio telescope continues to be used by Australian and international astronomers in the search for answers to some of the Universe’s greatest scientific questions. The telescope is best known, however, for its role in supporting NASA’s missions to explore our Solar System. In July 1969, alongside NASA’s Honeysuckle Creek Station near Canberra, the telescope played a key role in receiving the television signals from the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon and sharing this technological feat with 600 million people around the world. Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the Parkes Observatory is a key part of
Australia’s scientific capability. “The Dish is part of Australia’s proud cultural and scientific history and to this day continues to serve as an important tool in our understanding of the Universe,” Minister Andrews said. “As Australia again plays a critical role in the next efforts to put people on the Moon, and go on to Mars, this listing couldn’t come at a more appropriate time.” CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said the Parkes radio telescope is an icon of Australian science
and innovation. “Australia has a long and proud history of science-driven innovation, from our first digital computer – CSIRAC, to the first air defence radar which helped to pave the way for the new field of radio astronomy after World War II, and more recently the development of fast WiFi that connects people across the world to the internet,” Dr Marshall said. “While the Parkes telescope may be old enough to qualify for the National Heritage List, it continues to operate as one of the world’s leading astronomy instruments, observing the Universe day and night, seven days a week, with the most advanced radio receiver systems in the world.” Its instrumentation has been continually upgraded so the telescope is now 10,000 times more sensitive than when it was first built. Using the Parkes telescope astronomers have found most of the known pulsars, rapidly spinning neutron stars, and identified the first ‘fast radio burst’, a phenomenon that researchers around the world are racing to explain. Professor Naomi McClure-Griffiths from the Australian National University spent over 2000 hours observing the Milky Way using the Parkes telescope for the Southern Galactic Plane Survey and the Galactic All Sky Survey. (Page 7 - CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope’s top achievements:)