Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Glendra Stubbs OAM will visit Warialda on January 26 as an 'Australia Day' Ambassador for the Gwydir Shire Council community.

A counsellor and community leader, Aunty Glendra was a finalist for the 2025 NSW Senior Australian of the Year Award.

Her work has focused on healing, cultural connection and supporting families, including through her past role as CEO of Link-Up NSW.

She has also held roles tied to survivor advocacy and child safety, including work connected to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and her current role with Knowmore.

The ambassadorship provides an opportunity to bring a different public focus to Aboriginal people and to speak about pride alongside hard truths.

Aunty Glendra described the invitation as an opportunity to cut through stigma and to take those conversations beyond major centres.

"This is the time to say we are good people, we love this country," she said.

Choosing Warialda was linked to being on Country and connecting with regional communities.

"I chose places like Warialda so I can put my hands in the red dirt and feel I'm home," she said.

"It makes my heart sing."

January 26 remains a date which highlights division and causes pain for many Indigenous people, even as other Australians see it differently.

"There is a past and the past is painful," Aunty Glendra said.

"Reconciliation means we see the good and acknowledge the past for better or for worse."

Her approach to January 26 is tied to the work she does year-round with people affected by trauma and institutional harm.

"That's the work I do - it's about truth, justice and healing," she said.

"I just want to keep the kids safe."

Elders having a stronger voice in decisions affecting young people was raised as one pathway Aunty Glendra wanted to see taken seriously.

"The Elders should decide what's the best for these kids," she said.

"Not the prosecutor, not the lawyers - the Elders."

She encouraged non-Indigenous Australians to listen and to consider how stigma and misunderstanding shapes relationships, especially in smaller communities.

"I want them to understand that we're not bad people," she said.

She described January 26 as carrying multiple meanings for Indigenous people, while still aiming to keep conversations constructive.

"Survival day, it is about us surviving," she said.

"And it is invasion day.

"It is the day that people came here that weren't asked to come."

Her aim in Warialda is to bring people together and keep moving community conversations forward.

"Sometimes you've got to wrap your arms around people and bring them along with you to change them," she said.

The event will be held at the Warialda Showgrounds from 7:30am.