Having just retired from a decorated para-athletics career in 2018, the Carcoar product, who now calls Newcastle home, is now kept busy as a father of four, including six-month-old twin girls.

So a recent series of missed calls, ultimately welcoming him into the Sport Australia hall of fame, came as quite the surprise.

Fearnley, 42, says he feels honoured to join the class of 2023 and sit alongside some of the country's best-ever athletes.

"Throughout my career I was really intrinsically motivated," Fearnley told ACM following Wednesday's announcement.

"You didn't race for huge amounts of money, you didn't race for the praise of anyone except your coach, your family and the Paralympians who came before you.

"But then you have these moments when you go into rooms like the hall of fame and you see the people who you idolised as a kid.

"You see the people who have made a huge impact on this country, through what might have started as sport but changed and developed into one thousand different things.

"So to be thought of amongst them, I grew up crawling around the middle of NSW and to somehow find myself next to the likes of JT [Jonathan Thurston] and Timmy Cahill, is pretty wild."

This year's recipients feature Fearnley, Cahill (football), Thurston (rugby league), Lydia Lassila (aerial skiing), Nova Peris (athletics, hockey) and Kim Brennan (rowing).

Fearnley claimed nine gold medals - four World Championships, three Paralympics and two Commonwealth Games - across 20 years of wheelchair racing. He won over 40 marathons, including New York, Chicago and London. The disability advocate was inducted into the Paralympics Australia hall of fame last year.

Other athletes from Newcastle and the Hunter region already part of the Sport Australia honour roll include: Ray Baartz (football), Eddie Charlton (snooker), Clive Churchill (rugby league), Belinda Clarke (cricket), Les Darcy (boxing), Andrew Johns (rugby league), Dave Power (athletics), Mark Richards (surfing), Matt Ryan (equestrian), Cheryl Salisbury (football), Casey Stoner (motorsport), Doug Walters (cricket).

Fearnley will attend an official function in Sydney on October 16.

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