A dinner held Monday night on the anniversary of former mayor Tony McGrane's death will ensure Mr McGrane's legacy continues through annual scholarships.
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The Tony McGrane scholarships are awarded to two students from the Orana region every year who attend Charles Sturt University Dubbo and Monday night's dinner was part of the fundraising efforts to ensure the scholarship continues.
"It's too early to establish the exact funds raised, but it's certainly substantial," Chair of the Tony McGrane Scholarship Committee Geoff Wise said.
The initiative was established in 2010 and to date eight students have been awarded the $3000 scholarship including this year's recipients Emily Ryan and Hayley Nuss.
Only 80 people were able to attend the event due to the limited space and Mr Wise said tickets to the "highly successful" event sold out weeks in advance.
Mr Wise said he was impressed with the night's guest speaker, the International President of the Associated Country Women of the World (ACWW) Ruth Shanks.
Ms Shanks said the ACWW has more than 450 societies in 75 countries, making her the spokesperson for nine million women.
The fundraising dinner may have only been the second time Ms Shanks has been at a university, but during her speech she emphasised the importance of education.
"The most important thing to women across the world is not their health, not their home, it doesn't matter what they live in, the most important to women across the world is education because they all realise you can't get anywhere unless you have an education," Ms Shanks said.
"We're very fortunate in Australia it's as easy for girls to get an education as boys."
She said education is fundamental to the advancement of society and everyone has a hand furthering the objective.
Mr McGrane was Mayor of Dubbo from 1991 to 1999 during which he played a pivotal role in the establishment of the university.
n See photos from the event on pages 12 and 13.