From musicians to actors, sportspeople and politicians, the Colour City definitely punches above its weight.

In our first edition highlighting some of our town's great achievers, we took a look at six famous faces who attended Orange High School.

In part two, we move across town to recognise nine of the biggest names who spent time at Canobolas Rural Technology High School.

Orange's first ever Olympic medallist won silver in the 500m kayak singles at the 1980 Moscow Games, having also competed at the 1976 Games in Montreal alongside fellow Orange product John Southwood.

With his father John as his mentor, the future Olympian and his sister trained on Lake Canobolas and both went on to win state and national championships.

Born in 1954, Sumegi won state and national titles in K1 over 500m every year from age 11 to 19.

He retired after the 1980 Games and eventually moved to Queensland where he continued to train young canoeists as head coach of the Institute of Sport.

The first of two notable journalists, Squires made it her mission to empower women in sport and certainly accomplished that.

She has spent time as a TV host for Surfing Australia, board director for the WPGA tour of Australasia and for the past three years has been with Fox Sports Australia.

The most notable of all her accomplishments is being the founder of Sportette in 2014.

In her own words, Squires said of the website: "Developed in an era where women's sports struggled for the attention of mainstream media, and before the launch of women's professional sporting competitions, its initial purpose was to provide an avenue to tell the stories of, and issues affecting, elite sportswomen."

There's no doubt Orange loves its hockey and we've got the star athletes to prove it, including Jade Warrender.

A sport Australia Hall of Fame member, the Hockeyroo began playing the sport at age six.

She first represented Australia in 2009 at the Junior World Cup, but not long after she sustained a knee injury which forced her to undergo a reconstruction.

In February 2011, she made her debut for Australia at the 4 Nations Tournament in Argentina in 2011, a moment she described in a column for the Central Western Daily.

"So many thoughts and emotions ran through my mind while the national anthem played," she said of the moment.

"I couldn't believe it. I had finally pulled on the famous green and gold bodysuit."

The sporting stars continue and this might be the most obscure one of the bunch.

Not many people can say they've played cricket against both Mike Hussey and Adam Gilchrist. The list of those from Orange may just be one; Dave Langford-Smith.

The former Bowen Centrals quick had the chance to represent Ireland on 22 occasions in One Day Internationals.

In 2013, he spoke to the Central Western Daily about what it was like taking on some of the greatest cricketers to ever play the game.

"(Hussey) is a champion cricketer and a gentleman of a bloke," Langford-Smith said.

"The two that stand out for me are Hussey and Adam Gilchrist.

"Both he and Hussey were just a pleasure to play, a real pleasure to share the same field with."

In that 2007 match at Kensington Oval in Barbados - a Super Eights fixture in the International Cricket Council World Cup - Gilchrist took to Langford-Smith a little more than the man they call Mr Cricket managed.

"Hussey hit me for ones and twos. Unfortunately, Gilly gave me a bit of stick," he laughed.

At the start of 2022, the Orange-born man and former Central Western Daily journalist was appointed as editor of the Sydney Morning Herald.

"I am humbled, honoured and hungry to lead the best newsroom in Australia," he said.

"I love the Herald and our newsroom full of exceptional journalists.

"The new year gives the Herald a huge opportunity to reset and restate who we are and what we believe in and rededicate ourselves to journalism that informs, challenges, entertains and surprises our wonderful readers and subscribers."

In the two years since, Shields has been at the centre of controversy however.

This included how the SMH covered Rebel Wilson and her relationship, as well as wrongly stating that a train network shutdown ordered by the state government was a strike.

Orange has been home to many a fighting great.

Charlie Bubb is currently carrying that torch for the city, but before the Muay Thai star, we had Sam Ah See.

Prodigiously talented and bordering on freakish with almost unbelievable speed at his disposal, the southpaw was branded one of Australia's next big things from an early age.

But underneath the tough exterior that comes with being a professional boxer, lay a soft interior which he opened up about to the Central Western Daily following his retirement in 2017.

"In a nutshell, I grew up and started seeing clearly. Basically I came to the realisation that I wasn't going to make a living from boxing," he explained.

"In my career I had nothing to show [from the hard work]. To make a living from boxing you have to be great. I'm not great. I know I was good, very talented and had potential but I lacked something.

"If I was as good as people were saying I was, I would've had financial backing from sponsors willing to invest in me, but I didn't.

"The fact of the matter could've been, maybe I just wasn't good enough. Maybe people saw something that made them realise they didn't want to invest in me."

In 2023, Hicks was selected for the finals of an elite national elite singing competition, alongside some of the best young performers from Australia and New Zealand.

At the time, the young Mezzo-soprano was studying a Master of Music Studies in Opera Performance at the Sydney Conservatorium with the aim to become a professional opera singer.

A proud Wiradjuri man, Joel Bray's cultural heritage plays a big role in his work as a dance artist.

In a 2023 interview with Ausdance Vic, Bray described himself growing up as "pretty nerdy" and a "bookwork" who only came into dance later in life when he attended the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Dance School.

"I love the body. I love dance. I love dancers," he said.

"I love the way we and choreographers dance. I love our approach. I just think there's honesty and beauty and poetry that dance as an art form can get to that other art forms can't."

The final name on our list certainly needs no introduction.

An Australian rugby league representative and Bloomfield junior, Wighton's career has been covered extensively.

In fact, in a town that has produced some of the best footballers this side of the Blue Mountains, Wighton may just be the best.