Mr Elder will attend the shire’s ceremonies at Nashdale, Cudal, Manildra and Yeoval where the Cabonne citizens of the year, young citizens of the year and community groups of the year will be announced.

Australia Day will also be celebrated at Canowindra, Cargo, Cumnock, Eugowra, Molong and Mullion Creek during a full-day of activities in Cabonne.

Mr Elder has made a name for himself and worked as a freelance writer and full time employee of the Sydney Morning Herald for 25 years.

He also won the Geraldine Pascall Prize for Critical Writing in 1996.

Mr Elder has also worked for the ABC as a regular contributor from 1977 to 2016. During that time his work with the ABC ranged from being a London correspondent for Double J to becoming a regular on Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program.

In 1988, Mr Elder wrote an acclaimed study of the massacres and maltreatment of Aboriginal people titled Blood on the Wattle, which was praised at the time as “arguably the best book ever written about Aborigines by a white writer.” 

In a Sydney Morning Herald and The Age survey in 2000, the study was nominated as one of the 10 most influential works of non-fiction published in Australia in the 20th century.

He has also been the Australian editor of Trivial Pursuit for 25 years and is working on his own website Aussie Towns www.aussietowns.com.au ,which will contain information on 1350 towns across Australia.

Mr Elder faces a busy Australia Day starting at Nashdale at 10am before travelling to celebrations at Cudal at 12.30pm, followed at 3.30pm by a host of family activities at Manildra swimming pool and concluding with an awards ceremony and light tea at Yeoval Central School at 5.30pm.