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BATHURST, NEW SOUTH WALES

Bathurst Regional Council
Location of Bathurst in New South Wales (red)
Geography
State: New South Wales
Region: Central West
Area: 3,820 km²
Council seat: Bathurst (158 Russell Street)
Demographics
Population: 36,630
- Density: 9.59 / km²
Government
Bathurst Regional Council
http://www.bathurst.nsw.gov.au/
Mayor: Norm Mann
Deputy Mayor: Paul Toole
Federal electorates: Calare
State electorates: Bathurst

Bathurst (33°25′S 149°34′E) is a regional centre in the state of New South Wales, Australia approximately 200km west of Sydney. It has a population of 37,001 (2005).

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 know for the Mt Panorama motor racing circuit, venue for 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.

Contents

Bathurst Regional Council

Bathurst was proclaimed a city in 1885 [1]. Bathurst Regional Council was created out of Bathurst City Council and Evans Shire Council on 26 May 2004. It includes the suburbs of Kelso and Raglan and the villages of Eglinton, Perthville, Georges Plains, Trunkey Creek, Brewongle, Vittoria, Peel, Wattle Flat, Sofala, Hill End, and Meadow Flat.

History

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 Sydney railway reached Bathurst in 1876.

Significant people from or associated with Bathurst

Radio Stations

Bathurst-licensed stations

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

Reference

  1. ^ Tamworth Profile (html). Geological Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved on 23 May 2006.

External links

Countrylink Western
Tarana Bathurst Blayney


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