It was four years in the making but already the Parkes History Book ‘Generation of Change 1983 – 2008’ has been given the thumbs up – climbing to No 1 on the local best seller list.
6,500 copies of the book have been distributed to the various outlets in Parkes of which 300 of the 500 hardback copies sold within a day of hitting the shelves.
A large crowd assembled at the Parkes Shire Library for Monday’s official launch by NSW Governor Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir.
Unfortunately her husband, Sir Nicholas Shehadie, was unable to accompany his wife on the visit to Parkes following a fall that saw him hospitalised in Sydney for treatment to three broken ribs amongst other things.
Governor Bashir wrote the forward to the book that proved to be a labour of love for authors Tom Thompson and Elizabeth Butel. Tom was born in Parkes and made mention of this fact during his address.
In his welcoming address to Her Excellency, Mr Peter Tom (book committee chairman) said the committee had not set out to give a detailed and authentic history of the last quarter century.
A detailed history of Parkes was produced in a book in 1983 that marked the centenary of local government.
`Rather than repeat those events again, we, in collaboration with the authors, set out to give an overall interpretation of events and changes that have taken place throughout the shire during the last 25 years,’ Mr Tom said.
`It probably won’t please everyone out there but the committee is definitely proud of the final product and especially the effort put in by Tom and Elizabeth.’