Parkes' former State MP Ian Armstrong OBE AM has passed away, aged 83.
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Mr Armstrong served in the NSW Parliament as the Member for Lachlan between 1981 and 2007, when the seat was abolished, and was deputy premier under Premier John Fahey from 1993-1995.
Mr Armstrong passed away on December 16.
Parkes Mayor Ken Keith OAM has paid tribute to the long-serving Cowra identity.
"We were saddened to hear of the passing of our former local member Ian Armstrong and pass on our condolences to Jennifer and the family," Cr Keith said.
"Ian was passionate about regional NSW and championed the relocation of the department of Agriculture to Orange while he was the Deputy Premier.
"He had a wonderful memory for names and was a regular attendee at picnic races where he seemed to know most people.
"After politics he chaired the Bells Line of Road committee pushing for an expressway to link the Central West to Sydney.
"He has left a legacy and example for others to emulate."
So too has Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller paid tribute, where she has described Mr Armstrong as the "most amazing MP we could ever have wished for".
"In a room of 100 people he'd know everyone's name," she reflected.
"He was honest and reliable, a great leader of the Nationals in his time."
The former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Affairs pre-dated her time as a councillor, in the brutal drought of the early 1980s.
"There were drovers with cattle everywhere out on the TSRs," Mayor Miller recalled.
Those cattle needed to come in to the Forbes saleyards to be tagged so that they could be sold, "but the rules were that they had to be tagged before they went into the saleyards."
"You can't put tail tags on cattle without a fence around them," she said.
"Kevin and I had to go to him, it was a really big thing for us early in our business."
Mr Armstrong recalled, when he was in Forbes on Australia Day in 2007, that his political career actually started at Forbes in August 1980 when he won pre-selection for the then Country Party and went on to win the seat of Lachlan in the 1981 State election.
"As I stood on the dais on Australia Day this year I realised I knew, or knew of, probably two-thirds of the people in the audience," he said at the time.
"I also realised there was more to politics than just being a Member of Parliament - it's all about friendships and memories."
Mr Armstrong is remembered as a passionate advocate for rural and regional NSW: even after leaving parliament he kept up the fight for better transport links between Sydney and the Central West as the chairman of the Bells Line Expressway Group.
He was a driving force behind the decentralisation of the now NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), which moved locations to a new building, fittingly called the Ian Armstrong Building, in November of this year.
Mr Armstrong was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1978 and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2009.
The NSW Government has offered a state service to Mr Armstrong's family.
Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Nationals Leader Michael McCormack described Mr Armstrong as "a fearless warrior for the regions".
"He stood firm for what he believed was right and people could see that dating right back to his time in the Cattlemen's Union," Mr McCormack said.
"His word was his bond. Ahead of the 1988 New South Wales election, Ian promised to decentralise the Department of Agriculture and he did just that, successfully moving the headquarters to Orange.
"Today, around 800 state public servants from a number of different departments and agencies are located there in the fittingly-named Ian Armstrong Building.
"As Deputy Premier and Public Works Minister, Ian brought much-needed infrastructure to communities across the regions.
"He delivered permanent improvements to living standards in the bush, and we thank him for it.
"Ian was a great friend and a real gentleman. He remembered everyone.
"Deepest condolences are expressed to Jenny and family."
Ian is survived by his wife Jenny and children Angus and Angela.