Gulargambone's community-run Australia Day celebrations on Wednesday will have a distinctly youthful focus, with the volunteer Committee hosting Hannah Beder, a computer scientist and recipient of the 2020 Harvey Norman Young Woman of the Year Award, as their Australia Day Ambassador.

At just 26, Hannah works as a Creative Technologist with Creatable, teaches at UNSW, Code Like A Girl and MoneyGirl, empowering other young women to work towards and exceed in STEM careers.

 “When I first started, I hadn’t really done any computer science before university, however now it's taught at schools as early as primary level,” said Hannah.

While Hannah is especially passionate about encouraging young women, and other minorities who may not recognise their aptitude within the realm of STEM, she also believes that it is a career path that can be picked up at any stage of life.

“On one hand to get exposure to STEM mindset as early as possible is great,” Hannah said.

“On other hand it is never too late to get started, people are very receptive to career changes. You don't have to have a certain pedigree or degree to get involved.”

Although Hannah isn’t quite sure what to expect from a rural Australia Day celebration, she is extremely excited to visit Gulargambone and the surrounding area.

“It’s exciting to meet people from different places,” said Hannah.

“I’ve heard a lot of great things about the region’s hospitality and I’m really looking forward to joining everyone on Australia Day.”

The Gulargambone Australia Day Committee secretary Daphne Earsman, says she always looks forward to the community breakfast and celebrations where people of all ages together.

"From my point of view it's nice to see some young leaders come to our part of the world and we're looking forward to hosting Hannah," Mrs Earsman said.

"A young dog can sometimes teach the old dogs new tricks."

"We have a very good solid pool of nominees for our local awards, including lots of votes for Junior Citizen of the Year - there were some very tight calls," she said.

"There was also a good selection of community groups worthy of nomination and same for Citizen of the Year, Sportsperson of the Year, and Community Event of the Year. Again the candidates were of such outstanding quality."

The Gulargambone event will be held in Lions Park from 8am and following breakfast and the awards ceremony will be the rabbit trap relay, watermelon-eating competition, gumboot throwing and paddy melon bowls.