Alectown – a town of gold and stars!

Nestled between Parkes and Peak Hill lies the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village of Alectown. The last time Alectown featured in Australian Bureau of Statistics figures was in 2006, when the population was recorded as 201 (ABS QuickStats) Consisting of mainly farming, the area has a rich and interesting history. Despite its current small population, Alectown has produced some notable people. Recently deceased centenarian, Len Unger, grew up and lived in Alectown until the 1990s. Ken Mulligan, managing director of YWAM Medical Ships in Townsville, grew up on the family farm in Alectown. Another Alectown farmboy, Scott Westcott, became the eighth Parkes Shire resident to represent Australia at the Olympics when he competed in the marathon in the Rio Olympics at the age of 40! You can read all about Scott Westcott here http://wp.me/p5OClA-Ga

History of Alectown

It is vital to acknowledge that the area known as Alectown was inhabited by indigenous Australians for thousands of years before it became named “Alectown”. Former Alectown resident and local historian, Len Unger, documented an interesting meeting between Major Mitchell and headman, Bultje, of the Wiradjuri nation. Mitchell gives an honest and positive account of meeting the locals while exploring through the area, including at Alectown:

The natives whom we met here were fine looking men, enjoying contentment and happiness within the precincts of their native woods. Their enjoyment seemed derived so directly from nature, that it almost excited a feeling of regret, that civilised men, enervated by luxury and all its concomitant diseases, should ever disturb the haunts of these rude happy beings.

Unger, Len (1995) page 4-5

Before the discovery of gold, white settlers realised that farming was a viable option in the area today known as Alectown. Former journalist of Parkes Champion Post, Bill Jayet, recorded the impact and legacy of the early farming families:

In 1865 Joseph Westcott moved from Victoria to the Alectown district north of Parkes, built a home on the property ‘Bridgewater’ and so became the district’s first farmer.

Today the name Westcott is synonymous not only with the Alectown farming community but throughout the Parkes Shire.

Properties such as Kadina Park, Glenbrook and Honey Springs all evolved as a result of that first settlement.

Neil Westcott, a fifth generation descendant of the pioneering Joseph Westcott, along with wife Alison, own and manage a combined 6,000 acres of land throughout the Alectown district from their property Swansea.

Jayet, B. (2014) page 7

However Joseph Westcott was not the only Victorian to move into the Alectown area. Another surname synonymous with Alectown – Unger – left the southern state for the “greener grass” of NSW’s Central West. When the gold boom brought thousands to the Parkes district, prospecters tried their luck in surrounding areas. Being just 15 miles north of Parkes (24 kilometres), gold was discovered and mentioned in dispatches in 1889.

Like all farming towns, natural disasters will demonstrate their devastating impact at various times. This photograph is from the bushfire that engulfed Alectown on 30th November 2004. Source: Parkes Champion Post Monday June 26, 2006 page 3

 

Like many small country towns and villages, Alectown’s population has been on gradual decline with the occasional peaks over the years. In the 1947 Census, Alectown’s population was 194 (Source: ABS website). By the time of the next national Census, 1954, the town had boomed to 301 which coincidentally was the same number at the 1961 Census. The 1966 Census saw a change to the way statistics were recorded and only towns with one hundred persons or more were recorded. As Alectown didn’t feature in the 1966 Census,  it can be presumed that its population was less than 100. According to ABS website on 2006 Census Alectown had a population of 201 (Source: ABS website) but the same website doesn’t include Alectown in its 2011 Census results – rather it is part of a larger section called Goonumbla with a population of 350.

The rise, fall and rise of the Parkes Shire population was a series of three blog posts published last year.

To read Part 1 1865 – 1945 click here

To read Part 2 1947 – 1971 click here

To read Part 3 The ABS Years 1976 – present click here

 

Some Alectown Legends

Scott Westcott – Olympic marathon man at age 40

Patience and perseverance are two virtues that Scott Westcott has in abundance. Scott’s Olympic dream began when he was a young boy chasing livestock on the family farm at Alectown. However the realisation of this dream took over 25 years – at the age of forty. Despite coming close on several attempts, Scott believed that the Olympic dream would remain a dream. A family birthday present – entry in the Berlin Marathon – renewed belief that dream could become reality, as Scott finished the marathon in Olympic qualifying time. Scott Westcott is one of eight former residents of the Parkes Shire to represent Australia at an Olympic games. The blog post on Scott Westcott’s incredible journey can be read here http://wp.me/p5OClA-Ga

Len Unger – centenarian historian

Leonard Arthur Unger was the youngest of three boys and born on February 27, 1917 at Nurse Ethel Clara Job’s maternity hospital which was situated in at the end of Mitchell Street near the Parkes Showground. His parents were Alfred Berthold Herbert Unger and Pauline Selma Unger (née Salan). Len’s brothers were Herbert Wilhelm Carl Unger and Ernest Alfred Berthold Unger, who also shared the longevity genes. Herb lived to 101 years of age and Ern was 92 years old when he passed away.

Len grew up in Alectown, on the family farm called “Rocky View”. Len went to school in Alectown, travelling by horse and sulky there and back. Len recalls that in the small school at Alectown he was one of four boys called Len! When a fire burnt the family house down in 1992, Len moved to Parkes. He stayed in a flat until 2014 when he moved to his final home – as a resident at Rosedurante Aged Care Plus Centre.

One of Len’s passions was family and local history, and he has written many books on the subject including:

• Bushranging in the Parkes District
• Early Days on the Bogan
• The Town That Disappeared (The Story of McGuigans 1874-1876)
• Aboriginal Activity in the Parkes District
• On The Home Front
• Stories of Alectown – Historical – Humorous – Tragic
• Early Days of Western Motoring
• Unger Family in Australia 1860-1988
• A Brief Biography of Carl Erdmann Salan 1856-1932
• The Butler Murder Case (1896-1897)
• A History of Henry Parkes Museum & Pioneer Park Museum
• Panorama of Parkes 1817-1977

Len was also a contributor to other local history books such as Centenary of Parkes Shows 1880-1980; Unger Family Reunion (a book produced to celebrate the centenary of Unger family moving from Victoria to Alectown) and also Parkes 100 Years of Local Government (affectionately known by locals as “the blue book”)

All of the above books are available to read in Parkes Library’s Family & Local History Resource Room (they are reference books which means they cannot be borrowed)

[To read more about Rosedurnate including Parkes’ connection to Northern Ireland go to http://wp.me/p5OClA-m2]

Ken Mulligan – the good neighbour

Growing up on the family farm at Alectown, young Ken probably didn’t expect his life to be based in north Queensland with regular trips to Papua New Guinea. However this is Ken Mulligan’s life today – even as this is being typed Ken is on a mission to PNG again.

Ken now lives in Townsville and is Managing Director of YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Ken is the son of Jack and Helen Mulligan, who both call Parkes home now. Ken and his wife Robyn (who came from Trewilga) have been in Townsville since 1992 and they are both responsible for the large number of volunteers carrying out valuable work locally in Townsville and in Papua New Guinea.

Such is the dedication of former Alectown lad Ken Mulligan that he has received several awards including 2008 Townsville Citizen of the Year and Order of Australia Medal in 2013.

To read more about Ken Mulligan’s incredible journey from Alectown to PNG via Townsville (and a few other places) click here. 

To learn more about the work of YWAM click here

The Dish

Another icon of Alectown is the radio telescope at Parkes Observatory, affectionately known as “The Dish”. The Dish is operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). It was the brainchild of the then chief of CSIRO’s Radiophysics Laboratory, E.G. “Taffy” Bowen. Partially funded by two philanthropic organisations – the Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller Foundation – construction was completed on 31st October 1961. Still in operation today, The Dish can lay claim to several accomplishments:

• participated in the Apollo moon missions including the moon landing of 1969;
• has several times held the record for discovering the most distant object known in the Universe;
• discovered over half the known number of pulsars;
• played a part in rescuing the Apollo 13 mission;
• one of few scientific instruments to have lasted over 50 years;
• lauded as the most successful scientific instrument constructed in Australia;
• featured in a major Australian film, The Dish, made by Working Dog productions and the top grossing film in Australia in 2000;
• used in album cover art for progressive rock artist Steve Hillage’s LP “Motivation Radio”;
• features in music video for 2002 Bon Jovi single “Everyday”

To read more about The Dish head to here and here

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Parkes Shire Library would like to thank the following people and organisations for their assistance in making this post possible:

• Len Unger;
• Councillor Neil Westcott;
• Councillor Bill Jayet;
• Trove;
• Parkes Champion Post and Christine Speelman;
• Scott Westcott;
• Ian and Marion Unger;
• Ken Mulligan and the team at YWAM Townsville;
• the staff and residents of Rosedurnate Aged Care Plus Centre;
• staff and volunteers at Parkes Shire Library, especially Leon Madden

 

If you have stories or memories that you are willing to share about Alectown please contact Parkes Shire Library via library@parkes.nsw.gov.au so that they can be shared and kept for posterity on this blog. Alternatively you may leave comments on this page.

REFERENCE LIST

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