Kurt Fearnley has won numerous gold, silver and bronze medals at Paralympic and Commonwealth Games as well as World Championship events in an international career which has spanned nearly two decades.

He retired after the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast this year with a gold and silver medal at the event. 

Fearnley was the special guest at The Armidale School’s Speech Day on Thursday and instead of being there to “inspire” the students with his stories, Fearnley prefers to “challenge” them to think about their futures. 

“When you go and you speak to any audience where they are young adults, in a school setting, it is trying to get them to think beyond that and trying to get them to think about who they will be, not in relation to who they are in their friendship group,” he said. 

“Trying to get across the idea that they have their own individual impact that they can build right now and will be around for decades.

“You are just trying to get a group of people who are forming an idea of who they are to take that serious for a second.

“Whether or not that works, I will let you know in 30 years.”

Fearnley grew up in the central west village of Carcoar and speaks fondly of being from a country community. 

He enjoys coming back to the country. 

“It is like coming home to family,” he said. 

“I don't get into regional NSW much so you do enjoy and you do get to go out there.

“There is such a divide between rural and city.

“There is a lot more opportunity on the fingertips of kids in metropolitan areas and there are barriers in the road of kids in the bush and there is the need to travel for a lot of stuff.

“I do feel more comfortable and it is a bit more of a natural fit.

“I do feel that family connection of kids who grew up in that resilient community that regional NSW and country towns give.”

His advice to young adults making decisions about there future was to take the opportunities in front of them and “having a go.”

“You talk about getting your hands dirty,” Fearnley said. 

“Life is not about watching. It is not about looking through the window.

“It is about getting in there and having a go and being open to whatever the world has there for you.

“You try and get all these messages across but at the end of the day you just hope there is one kid out there who sits there and thinks ‘you know what? That thing I thought might have been out of reach, maybe I will give that a crack.’”

Fearnley has received many accolades and honours throughout his stellar career. 

This year alone he has received an Officer of the Order of Australia, Sport Australia’s Hall of Fame ‘Don Award’, GQ Sporting Legend and was named the 2019 NSW Australian of the year. 

“I feel like I am going into rooms and people are giving me awards,” Fearnley said. 

“It is strange because I am done.

“April 15 I gratefully and on one of the biggest stages, of my life I took a deep breath and said there's no more.

“Now it is six months later and I am getting awards for something that is almost a lifetime ago. 

“It is a really strange way to finish a year but it also makes you sit back and be grateful that so many people were a part of what I was doing for a couple of decades.

“You feel grateful there was enjoyment there and people felt value in being alongside me.”