We'll be looking at graduates from Bathurst High, Kelso High, St Stanislaus' College, MacKillop College, All Saints' College and The Scots School and picking out four or five students from each.

These lists aren't comprehensive but a small selection of ex-students. Do you think there's an ex-student worth mentioning? Email bradley.jurd@westernadvocate.com.au.

BORN in Dubbo, Steven Peacocke rose to prominence for his portrayal as Darryl Braxton in Home and Away.

He attended public schools in South Dubbo before completing his secondary education at The Scots School.

While in Dubbo he played rugby union with the Dubbo Kangaroos and was selected to play in the Central West representative sides.

Before leaving the family nest at the age of 16, his knack for impersonations and performing led brother Frank to suggest acting was the way to go.

It was a defining moment and despite a stint as a jackeroo at Bourke, and Newcastle University studies in the field of communications, Steve hung onto his acting goals.

In 2011, two auditions secured a three-year contract on Home and Away. He ended up leaving show in 2016, having won a Logie Award for Most Popular Actor.

He went on to have minor roles in the box office films Hercules, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Me Before You.

While he grew up in Sydney's lower North Shore, renowned artist Brett Whiteley did his senior studies at The Scots School and The Scots College.

He enjoyed a successful career as an artist, spending time studying and working in London and New York City.

Later in his life, Whiteley became increasingly dependent on alcohol and became addicted to heroin.

Several times he tried to get clean but in 1992, at the age of 53, he was found dead from an opiate overdose in Wollongong, with the coroner's verdict being 'death due to self-administered substances'.

Whiteley is still considered one of Australia's most celebrated artists and his career was bolstered by his celebrity status down under and overseas.

His home and workplace during the last four years of his life at Surry Hills was converted into a museum, to preserve his works.

A contemporary of Brett Whiteley, John Farrington was a long-distance runner who competed in triathlon at the 1968 Olympics and 1974 Commonwealth Games.

Farrington claimed four national marathon titles, in 1969, 1970, 1974 and 1975.

His personal record in marathon came during 1973 in a time of 2:11:12.6, which was the fastest marathon in the world that year.

He was in the team that helped establish the Australian Institute of Sport and he had a notable career as a sports administrator.

He's still alive today.

A LOCAL Bathurst boy who attended The Scots School, Archie Clements is now the deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Plymouth in England.

Prior to his appointment at 2022, Clements held senior academic leadership positions in higher education and health service settings for more than 15 years, having previously been Director of the Research School of Population Health and Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the Australian National University in Canberra.

During his career, he has been awarded more than $34.8 million in research funding, and has published almost 300 peer-reviewed publications in leading medical research journals.

He is also an advocate of both interdisciplinary and systems thinking approaches to research.

In his current role, he established the Curtin enAble Institute which undertakes consumer-led research supporting people living with disability, poor mental health, or who are experiencing ageing, and enabling them to live the life of their choosing.

NOT many Bathurst schools can claim they had a former president as a student.

Well The Scots School can do just that with Kinza Clodumar.

A politician in his native Nauru, Clodumar served as the country's president from 1997 to 1998.

While he was born in Nauru, he did his senior schooling as a boarder in Bathurst, before returning home, where he became involved in politics, concerned with environmental issues.

He was ultimately deposed as president of Nauru in a vote of no confidence.

He died on November 29, 2021, at the age of 76, and received a state funeral the following day.