Bathurst, New South Wales

Bathurst is a regional centre in the state of New South Wales, Australia approximately 200km west of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council Local Government Area. It has a population of 37,001 (2005). It is the oldest inland settlement in Australia.

Bathurst is a regional services centre, the home of one of the campuses of Charles Sturt University, and a tourism centre. It is a cathedral city, being the seat for the Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of Bathurst.

Bathurst is best known for the Mount Panorama motor racing circuit, venue for the Bathurst 12 Hour motor race each February and the Bathurst 1000 motor race each October. It is also the home of wartime Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley, who represented the area in the Federal Parliament and is buried in Bathurst.

Bathurst is unique in that it has a collection of house museums representing different periods of its history from first settlement to the 1970s. The house museums include Old Government Cottage, Abercrombie House, Miss Traill's House and Chifley Home.

Public transport

A typical bus stop in the Bathurst region.

Bathurst Station is located ten minutes away from the city centre. It is serviced by CountryLink trains and buses to Sydney or Lithgow and Dubbo. Local bus services operate in the surrounding suburbs of Bathurst, with a bus interchange in Howick Street, opposite Stockland Bathurst.

Roads

Bathurst is a regional highway hub. Several roads including the Great Western Highway, Mid-Western Highway, Mitchell Highway, O'Connell Road to Oberon and Bathurst-Ilford Road all start in Bathurst.

History

Bathurst Courthouse on Russell Street, built in 1880

Area of first settlement

Home of Ben Chifley, now a museum, in Busby Street Bathurst

The Bathurst area was originally occupied by the Wiradjuri Aboriginal peoples. The government surveyor George William Evans was the first European to sight the Bathurst Plains in 1813.

Bathurst was founded in 1815 on the orders of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and is the oldest inland town in Australia. The name Bathurst comes from the surname of the British Colonial Secretary Lord Bathurst. It was intended to be the administrative centre of the western plains of New South Wales where orderly colonial settlement was planned.

Local Wiradjuri groups under leaders such as Windradyne resisted the settlers until the Frontier Wars of the early 1820s ended the open conflict.

The initial settlement of Bathurst was on the eastern side of the river in 1816. It is in today's suburb of Kelso. Each of 10 men were granted 50 acres (200,000 m²), five were men new born in the colony and five were immigrants. These men were William Lee, Richard Mills, Thomas Kite, Thomas Swanbrooke, George Cheshire, John Abbott, John Blackman, James Blackman, John Neville and John Godden. In 1818 Governor Lachlan Macquarie stated in his diary: This morning I inspected 10 new settlers for Bathurst. I have agreed to grant each 50 acres (200,000 m²) of land, a servant, a cow, four bushels (141 litres) of wheat, an allotment in the new town, and to provide for them for 12 months from the King's stores.

Bathurst's economy was transformed by the discovery of gold in 1851. It later became the centre of an important coal-mining and manufacturing region. The Main Western railway line from Sydney reached Bathurst in 1876.

In December 2001 the inaugural meeting of the biennial Australasian Ornithological Conference series, initiated and organised by the Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union, was held in Bathurst.

Significant people from or associated with Bathurst

Windradyne (c.1788-1835), Wiradjuri Warrior
Lord Bathurst (1762-1834), British politician
Robert Gordon Edgell (1866-1948), founder of Edgells food processing^[1]
Ben Chifley (1885-1951), Australian Prime Minister
Kim Mackay (1902-1960), British Labour politician
Arthur George "Bluey" Wilkinson (1911-1940), Australian speedway rider, Individual World Champion in 1938^[2]
Brian Booth (1933- ), test cricketer and Olympic hockey player
Peter Brock (1945-2006), motor racing legend
Peter O'Malley (1965- ), Australian professional golfer
Matt Naylor (1983- ), Australian field hockey player
Rodney Rude (? - ), stand-up comedian
Andrew Denton (1960-), student of Mitchell College
Amanda Keller (1962-), student of Mitchell College
Archie Thompson (1978- ), soccer player; holds the all-time scoring record for the Australia A-League Soccer competition, and the world record for goals in an international match

Radio Stations

Evans Bridge, crossing the Macquarie River, connecting Kelso and Bathurst.

Bathurst-licensed stations

2BS 1503 AM (commercial)
B-Rock FM 99.3 (commercial)
2MCE 92.3 (community)

Orange-licensed stations

Star FM 105.9
2GZ FM 105.1
2EL 1089 AM
ABC Central West 549 AM

National or unknown stations

Life FM 100.1 (Christian)
Racing Radio 100.9
Triple J 101.9/95.9
Radio National 104.3/96.7
Classic FM 102.7/97.5
NewsRadio 98.3 (proposed)

Further information: List of Australian radio stations

References

External links

Bathurst Community Website
Bathurst Regional Council
National Motor Racing Museum
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
Kelso High Campus: Denison Secondary College
Off campus accommodation listings (Charles Sturt University)

Countrylink Western
Tarana	↔	Bathurst	↔	Blayney

Coordinates: 33°25′S, 149°34′E

Cities of New South Wales
Capital: Sydney Cities: Albury · Armidale · Bathurst · Blue Mountains · Broken Hill · Cessnock · Coffs Harbour · Dubbo · Gosford · Goulburn · Grafton · Griffith · Lismore · Lithgow · Maitland · Newcastle · Nowra · Orange · Queanbeyan · Tamworth · Wagga Wagga · Wollongong

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