TAMWORTH was well-represented on a recent NAIDOC Week special on Indigenous trailblazers.
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Karlie Noon and Benson Saulo sat alongside an all-star cast of Aboriginal luminaries of music, medicine, media and sport from across the nation on a special episode of SBS's Insight.
The pair, formerly of Tamworth, starred in their right sharing their stories of reaching great heights in science and business, respectively.
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While their fields might be disparate, their path to success shared a common starting point.
Peel High School.
The pair spoke highly of the school's level of care for its students and its "ability to understand the context of where the kids were coming from."
Mr Saulo said the program showed the "significant challenges" each panellist had overcome, but they weren't defined by their unique hardships.
"It highlighted and celebrated the resilience and strength in each individual," he said.
"What came across consistently from a lot of the panellists was never letting others' expectations or biases become their own."
While he said Tamworth was an amazing town to grow up in, he said there was still work to be done to develop a stronger connection with the Gomeroi people and the city had an opportunity to lead the way in embracing Aboriginal culture.
Ms Noon wanted to convey an honest story of what it was like growing up in a rural town.
She's noted as the first Indigenous Australian to graduate with a bachelor of mathematics and science, but didn't identify with the trailblazer tag.
"I'm just doing stuff, that at least Aboriginal people have been doing forever, I'm not doing anything crazy, I'm just being honest," she said.
She hoped the program would instil more self-belief in others.
"Something really useful for me was just not trusting what adults would say or think; not putting 100 per cent belief into what they think, they don't anymore than you," she said.
"You know what you're capable of."