Those in the crowd came from local areas as well as Bathurst and Lithgow to the library’s  refurbished library space.

Mr O’Brien ramped up audience expectations of his book and opened his talk with a graphic video showing a training exercise by Australia’s Special Forces Counter Terrorism unit TAG-East rescuing hostage victims.

With the mantra ‘nothing worth having is easy to obtain’, he reminisced over his country childhood which saw him determined to jump from the chook house roof, breaking two legs, but achieving his goal, ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’.

The message running through Mr O’Brien’s memoir, is that the anti-hero is far more interesting than the Superman model of perfection, and in the end he or she achieves more by overcoming the odds against them.

He highlighted the self-sacrifice of his fellow navy clearance divers who slipped through murky water to diffuse bombs, and those years of his high-action life he said were the most challenging. 

Mr O’Brien said Undaunted is the ideal read to motivate students, and all of us who hesitate to tackle our own personal challenges.

Hugh quotes Theodore Roosevelt – “there is nothing to fear but fear itself”– so why not try it?

Undaunted is an honest page turner, available from ABC books in Bathurst or Hugh’s parents Amanda and Gerard O’Brien of Gingkin. 

The copy Mr O’Brien donated to Oberon Council Library will be in demand, so hurry in.