This year’s Australia Day ambassador, Kyle Vander-Kuyp, hopes to encourage Nyngan’s youth to “aim high and set goals”.
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Mr Vander-Kuyp is one of Australia’s best known Indigenous sportspeople, having been a 12-time national hurdles champion.
Over his 20-year career he has represented Australia at every major international competition, including the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics where he made the finals of the 110-metre hurdles.
Mr Vander-Kuyp has since developed a career as a mentor and adviser across a variety of organisations including Beyond Blue and Red Dust.
He has never visited Nyngan before, and said he was “excited to go to new places”.
“I’m honoured to be an ambassador and excited they’ve chosen Nyngan as the place to go, I'm looking forward to meeting the community,” he said.
"That gets you excited that there's young people you can meet, share my story with, give them an idea of what I have done."
He hoped being this year’s Australia Day ambassador would help him to “inspire the next generation, not just in terms of sport, but anything, I want to teach them to aim high and set goals”.
As an ambassador for Red Dust, Mr Vander-Kuyp said he often saw children in remote and regional areas battling isolation.
“I appreciate how fortunate I've been to grow up in Melbourne, growing up with tracks and facilities that let me make it to that high level,” he said.
"It doesn't mean people can't make it from regional or remote areas, if you have a dream you can make it happen.”
Much controversy has surrounded Australia Day in recent times, with the Australian Greens party pushing to change the date from January 26 – the date the First Fleet arrived at Port Jackson in 1788.
But Mr Vander-Kuyp said Australia Day was an important day to recognise and celebrate people’s differences.
"I think it is a great opportunity to share my story and give people an insight into what are some of the things I've done in my life,” he said.
"My snapshot is a bit different not only as an athlete, as an Indigenous person, the complexities I can share, which is a bit like Australia, we are all made up of different mixes. As an Australian, an Aboriginal Australian, I'm proud of my heritage, as a proud Australian as well, I’m looking forward to celebrating who we all are as Australians on that day.”