Station Motels

About Parkes

Settlement and development originally occurred in the Parkes area following the discovery of gold in the early 19th century, and the town has since become a thriving commercial centre servicing the surrounding agricultural district, and the developing mining, government, and transport industries.

Parkes Shire promotes itself as the 'Crossroads of the Nation' as the Shire is strategically located on the Newell Highway, at approximately the mid-point of the main highway and route for travel, between Melbourne and Brisbane, and between Adelaide and Brisbane.

Parkes has excellent road links in all directions to other major centres, and is well positioned as an inland transport hub at the crossroads of north-south highways and the east-west rail corridor.

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.

Parkes is best known as the home of the "Parkes Observatory", the CSIRO Radio Telescope made famous by the film 'The Dish'.

'The Dish' is a film about the first landing on the moon in 1969 and the role the "Parkes Observatory" played in relaying the images from Apollo to a television audience of around 2 billion people. The film received critical acclaim from domestic and international audiences.