Ms Bashir directed Lachlan Campbell's attention to an original portrait of his namesake - former Governor Lachlan Macquarie - hanging in the foyer.

Lachlan had achieved something ­noteworthy and Bashir, Governor of NSW, said he should be inspired by his namesake, who had been ­responsible for many of Australia’s wonderful values such as “a fair go”.

Lachlan travelled to Sydney with his family from Manildra at the invitation of The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Bashir is patron of the foundation and the evening was designed to thank and award those who had done exceptional work for prostate cancer.

For the past 10 years, Lachlan’s grandfather Ian has been living with prostate cancer.

He’s had treatment but it has changed him.

“Because of the side effects, he is no longer the same person,” Lachlan said.

Then two years ago, his other grandfather, Thomas, died of prostate cancer.

Lachlan was 14 and felt “enough was enough”.

“We were very sad. It crushed our family because we had looked up to him so much,” he said.

Lachlan wanted to raise awareness about this cancer and some money for research “so we could stop other families feeling the pain that we felt”.

He aimed to raise $1000 in Manildra , which has a population of 500.

But with organisation and his family’s help, he raised $8000, the bulk from their own town but some from Orange and Parkes.

He created a website, organised a golf day, a trivia night and he, his parents and his brother shaved their heads, while his sister streaked her hair blue.

At each event he spoke about ­prostate cancer and why funds were needed. 

These events required much organisation and demonstrated “how much organisation pays off.”

An ambitious young man, Lachlan holds a black belt in karate and aspires to be an orthopaedic surgeon with a focus on biomedical engineering.