One Step Max is walking and raising awareness for suicide prevention.
One Step Max recently walked through both Parkes and Forbes on his 700,000km journey – Walk to Save a Life. Max set out on his personal journey during Mental Health Month in October 2025, where he completed his first big walk from Albury to Adelaide.
This year Max has walked from Goondiwindi to Moree, and then on to Inverell, Bingara, Narabri, Gunnedah and Tamworth.
He then skipped to Coonabarabran and walked south again along the Newell.
Max set out to walk 700,000km, which represents each life lost to suicide worldwide each year. “For a long time I had thoughts of not being here anymore. I think in life if we take one step forward, it doesn’t matter how many steps we take backwards, as long as we keep moving forward every now and again,” said Max.
Max first arrived in Parkes, staying for about a week at various places, where accommodation was kindly offered by locals.
He even got a haircut whilst in Parkes, and had dinner with the ladies from the Visitor Information Centre on his last evening before embarking on his journey to Forbes.
Arriving in Forbes after enjoying a brief homestay and camping along the way, Max took the time to meet lots of locals and visit as many places as he could, saying “Forbes is a beautiful town, full of people doing amazing things for the community.” You can follow along with Max’s journey on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Onestep-Max/61576680990763