Sprinter Leroy Dempsey has claimed a slice of history from the storied Stawell Gift at just his second day at the historic carnival.

The proud Kalkadoon man with strong Waluwarra and Georgina River mob connections from the Mt Isa region won the Arthur Postle 70-metre Handicap on Easter Sunday.

However the momentous occasion wasn't the first time Dempsey crossed paths with the name Arthur Postle.

There's an inconspicuous 75-yard (67.5 metres) Gift race named after Australia's first star of the sprint down the road from Toowoomba in Postle's hometown.

"Every time they have had the Postle Gift at Pittsworth, I've always put my name down for it," Dempsey told National Indigenous Times.

"I won it once while in the under-18s."

Pittsworth is the home of Dempsey's uncle Michael, also a past finalist in Stawell, over the same distance his nephew won decades later.

Postle, known as the 'Crimson Flash' for his range of bright uniforms, proved to be a generational sprinter — born three years after the birth of the Stawell Gift — who excelled at running the straight.

He competed in the 1901 and 1903 carnivals in central Victoria, but never quite won a Stawell final under heavy handicapping which preceded his growing reputation to earn a race named in his honour.

Despite Postle's name holding multiple world sprint records from 50 through to 200 yards, Dempsey remains the only winner of a Stawell final originating from their Darling Downs region.

It's certainly not lost on the 21-year-old's place in the annals of a longstanding Easter tradition.

"It does sound nice to say it's fate that I'm the first from this area ... it's around Pittsworth where we've got cousins and family that live out there" Dempsey said.

"They were actually the first ones to ring me up (on Sunday) to congratulate me.

"It made the win even more special."

While the victory wasn't quite unique for a Stawell debutant, Dempsey winning the event against nearly 200 qualifiers as a perennial backmarker over Saturday and Sunday remained an accomplishment to be cherished.

He ran 7.508 seconds off 4m in the preliminary heats, 7.433 off a more difficult 3.25m in the semi-finals before finishing with a time of 7.460 while maintaining 3.25m handicap in the final.

"I expected to do well in the heats, I prepared well, but didn't expect to make semis or anything," he said.

"To reach the 70 (metre) semi and then to win the final for the 70 was just amazing.

"I usually prefer the 70 (as a distance), but to win it was definitely a different experience."

Dempsey's speciality, amid his first year running in professional ranks while maintaining a teacher's aide position in a Toowoomba school with a diploma in Aboriginal teaching, is perfecting the 100 metres on the synthetic track.

However at the weekend he also qualified for the semi-finals of what some arguably say is the most prestigious footrace race in the world — the Stawell Gift over 120 metres.

"Just making the semi-final for the 120 was definitely always a bonus for me." he said.

He ran a fourth in the penultimate race to the final behind eventual winner Olufemi Komolafe, who started on the blocks 25cms in front of Dempsey, who on 4m finished in a time of 12.605 seconds.

But there's always next year for Dempsey and the title defence of the 70m.

"I have already started talking to dad and grandad, and they're happy to come down again to defend the 70," Dempsey said.

"That is the goal to come down for the 70, but try again for the 120."

Dempsey's father and grandfather keep his feet on the ground, always in the car alongside him while making the journey to events such as Stawell and Athletics Australia's nationals, which begins on Thursday.

"Grandad has announced to everyone in the family that he is my self-appointed manager," Dempsey said.

"Whenever there's an athletic race, I let him know straight away and he puts it in the diary, and he marks out where we're going to go, how long we're there, all that stuff - he's good like that."

The family advice sometimes extends to Dempsey's dad but about the track.

Dennis Dempsey could have been a sprinter, but chose a different path to that of his son and brother

The prominent winger-turned-fullback tried out for Toowoomba Clydesdales in the Queensland Cup but mostly was a revered figure for several local clubs around the region.

"Dad was certainly really quick, but he was just a rugby league player most of the time," Dempsey said.