A young farmer and talented cricketer killed by a lightning strike in central western NSW was trying to protect his family's livestock from several grassfires sparked by a freak storm.
Cameron Cox, 22, was killed on his family's property in Moolarben, about 40 kilometres north-east of Mudgee about 3pm on Tuesday.
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Man struck by lightning in NSW
A 22 year-old man has been struck by lightning and killed while fighting a grassfire in the New South Wales central west after a day of wild weather. Vision: Seven News
Mr Cox's father, sheep farmer Malcolm, sister Bec and grandparents Bruce and Gloria, who live on the property, were alongside him fighting the fire.
Some of those present were also members of the Rural Fire Service who immediately performed CPR on Mr Cox, a NSW Police spokeswoman said.
However, he died almost instantly from the bolt of lightning.
Dubbo MP Troy Grant said Mr Cox was a popular member of the community.
"In the cruellest of acts by Mother Nature the popular 22 year old was taken from us with a lightning strike as he battled the elements during a lightning storm that caused havoc across the region and State," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
"My thoughts and any support I can offer are with Cameron's family."
He said Mr Cox's girlfriend, merino stud manager and shearer Georgia Walter, was comforting the family on Wednesday.
Mr Cox's mother, Jo, shared a photo of her son on Facebook and captioned it: "My beautiful, perfect boy".
It prompted an outpouring of grief from friends who praised his efforts to save the family's livestock.
"Rest in peace Cameron taken way too young but a true hero," one wrote.
"What a hero he was for doing what he did at no thought of the danger to himself," another wrote.
The Mudgee cricketing community expressed their shock at his death.
"You just never think something like that is going to happen, do you?" Mitchell Cricket Council president Mark Frecklington told the Central Western Daily.
"I understand he was the captain of Mudgee's open side this year, such was his standing in the area. I umpired him a fair bit, he was just a great kid, well respected."
Mr Cox played both junior and open representative cricket and captained Mudgee's colts team.
In one memorable innings, he belted 12 fours and 10 sixes in his knock of 192 to lead Mudgee to the MCC under 21s grand final in 2014.
The tragedy came on a day of wild weather across the state.
In Sydney, thunderstorm cells developed with little warning on Tuesday and dumped almost as much rain on the city in an hour as collected in all of January.