At the Western Advocate, we're looking back at some iconic and notable ex-students from Bathurst high schools.
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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.
George Rose
AN NRL premiership winner, six-time Indigenous All Stars representative and a boxing promoter.
It's fair to say George Rose has had a successful career in both rugby league and boxing.
The Kelso High Campus graduate played for the Sydney Roosters, Manly Sea Eagles, Melbourne Storm and St George Illawarra Dragons for in a NRL career that spanned 11 years and over 154 games, with a grand final win with Manly in 2011.
He also pulled on the green and gold of the Prime Minister's XIII once.
Rose is now the chief executive officer of No Limit Boxing, working together with his brothers Matthew and Trent.
Their main fighter is Tim Tszyu.
They also have a successful Indigenous-owned cleaning chemical company Chemrose, which supplies sites like Qudos Bank Arena.
Rose also set up the George Rose attendance program to motivate young Aboriginal kids to increase their schooling attendance in Walgett, where his father was from.
Elizabeth Rapley
GRADUATING Kelso High in 1985, Elizabeth Rapley has gone on to make inroads into cancer research.
She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science with honours in human genetics, finishing first in her class.
She received a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in human molecular genetics in 1996.
This was followed by a successful academic career at the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), most recently as joint leader of the testicular cancer genetics team that lead to a number of landmark publications identifying susceptibility genes.
She joined Edge in 2011 to pursue an interest in medical communication and education and is currently the lead of the oncology communications team based at Edge's Australian office.
Toireasa Gallagher
TOIREASA Gallagher has enjoyed a fantastic career in cycling.
Before graduating from Kelso High in 1998, Gallagher was named the NSW Country Cyclist of the Year in 1996.
She received her first professional cycling contract in 2000 in the Netherlands and at the 2004 Athens Olympics she piloted Lindy Hou, who is legally blind, in the tandem and road races.
They won two silver medals together.
She piloted Hou again at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, where Gallagher won a silver and bronze medal.
Fellow Kelso High graduate Janelle Lindsay also piloted Hou at the 2004 Paralympics, winning a gold and bronze.
She's now a member of the Bathurst Cycling Club, where she's inspiring the next generation of cyclists.
Jason Saxby
JASON Saxby is an award winning chef.
After graduating from Kelso High in 2003, he went on to work at the Crowded House Cafe (where Church Bar is now), 9inety 2wo and was head chef at Absolutely Delicious, where the Bathurst Visitors Information Centre is.
After cutting his trade in Bathurst he headed to the big smoke and worked at Sydney kitchens at Park Hyatt, Pilu at Freshwater and the Bridge Room between 2007 and 2011.
In 2010 he was the runner-up of the Council of Italian Restaurants' national competition and was the Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year in 2011.
Internationally, he worked at Per Se in New York City, and at The Ledbury and Pollen Street Social in London.
In 2014, Mr Saxby's dish fregola cooked with prawns, squid ink, mussel butter, garlic, chilli and basil was named the best dish in Australia by The Australian.
Owen Franks
AFTER graduating from Kelso High in 1991 to the heights of the BBC, Al Jazeera and Bloomberg TV, Owen Franks has enjoyed a successful career in the media.
He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science, with honours in political science and government.
He was the producer and news editor at the BBC from 2000 to 2005, before moving to Al Jazeera English to be the producer from 2005 to 2008.
He then became the program editor at the same organisation from 2008 to 2013, before taking on the role as Al Jazeera America's senior executive producer from 2013-2014.
From 2014-2015 he was the executive producer of AJ+ San Francisco, before becoming the executive producer of Bloomberg TV Philippines from 2015-2017.
Since 2021, he's been the executive producer of the Al Jazeera Media Network.
