After lunch it was time to head to the destination for the day - Forbes, located in Central New South Wales. More details available too.
From the above, Forbes was founded on the discovery of gold, but has since turned into an agricultural centre, as well as a transport hub, being located on the main highway between Melbourne and Brisbane. It is a town with a rich history, and a collection of fine old grand buildings, maintained in excellent condition. A town with obvious community spirit.
After checking in to the motel (slightly complicated by the limited map details which the GPS has of Forbes, and the motel not having it's identity clearly displayed), I went for a walk around town, which was just across the street!
The shining light! Actually it was just the sun setting behind the little structure on the roof, but it seemed appropriate that the Anglican church should have a lighthouse atop one of the buildings on site!
St John's Anglican church - a fine piece of construction, and probably the most grand of the churches in town. There were two other churches in the next couple of blocks, though they (and the Catholic church further away) appeared to be brick structures.
The other side of the church. It looks as though it needs a spire on the structure at the right hand side. There is a wooden "box" type structure on top, but it looks out of place. I suspect it's unlikely a spire will ever be built.
The Town Hall (left) and Post Office. The Post Office clock shows the time as 5:05PM. That was sunset in Sydney, but being someways west, the sunset was later - a number of minutes later.
Ah, post World War II Modern - the Victoria Hotel.
And across the street, is what I suspect was also a hotel of yesteryear, but which is now a restaurant - at least, the upstairs part is. Not sure that I would trust the balcony, though.
One of the newer commercial buildings in town. But I was surprised to find that they have a sleep lab just for priests! Quite an amazing discovery in the mid west.
The Forbes Advocate is the local newspaper. It has a connection to us, of sorts. Years ago, Noel Edwards worked with my dad and brothers at a printing company in Sydney. Noel was from Forbes, and returned there to work at the Advocate. Quite a change of scale. Out of curiosity, I checked the phone book, and there were 3 "N Edwards" in it, but none living in Forbes.
The Court House. A very grand building, but then the gold production here did lead to active bush rangers, and probably disputes among the locals, so perhaps its grandness was important. Like most or all of the old buildings in Forbes, it is maintained in excellent condition.
And right next door, the School of Arts and the Literary Institute/Library is a less impressive building, and probably quite a bit newer. On the other hand, having such an institute in a town of this size is impressive.
Both the above buildings (and the Police station) face this park. I think it's Victoria Park. And the Town Hall is off to the left, making this some sort of administrative area.
Mount Panorama
Apollo 11 Plus 40