He loves Port Macquarie which is home for his young family but he also loves the community he grew up in called Ntaria. 

Now an exchange program he initiated will allow kids from Port Macquarie and Wauchope to visit the tiny Ntaria community located 130km west of Alice Springs.

It will also see young Ntaria participants of the program visit Port Macquarie

“It’s an opportunity to learn and share culture, experiences and stories with one and another while working towards creating change,” he said.

Mr Maher readily admits that he didn’t grow up with much. 

“I lived in a crowded house, my mum relied on the pension but the one thing she instilled in me was to go to school and that’s why I am where I am today," he said visibly emotional. 

Mr Maher hopes the program will inspire young people from Port Macquarie to be “humble and grateful and always think of others.”

The program uses running and walking to improve the lives of its participants. 

The young Ntaria participants will visit Port Macquarie in March for the 2019 Running Festival, which will be the first of many visits between the two communities. 

The Port Macquarie participants have been training three times a week in preparation for their visit to Ntaria.

 26-year-old Zane Sparke is one of the mentors for the program.

“I grew up around alcohol and then fell into that myself because I didn’t have any role models so I am just trying to be that older role model for others,” he said.

Mr Sparke who is originally from Forster is now studying environmental science at Charles Sturt University in Port Macquarie.

He was selected to be part of the Indigenous Marathon Project in 2017 running the 42km  New York Marathon that same year

He describes it as “the hardest thing I have done in my life”.

The experience taught him resilience, persistence and discipline, lessons he is keen to pass down to participants of the Bush to Beach program.

A luncheon attended by three former Olympians Nova Peris, Rob des Castella and Steve Moneghetti will be held as a fundraiser for the project on Saturday 9 March 2019. 

For tickets to the function click here