Bathurst

History

The area around what is now called Bathurst was originally occupied by the Muurrai clan of the Wiradjuri people. It was known as dalman or place of plenty. Yam fields were cultivated on the fertile floodplain and fire-stick farming was utilised to maintain grassy pasture for wild game. The Wiradjuri were noted by early colonists for their neat mandiyaba or possum-skin cloaks which were decorated with artistic etchings known as burwurr. The government surveyor, George Evans, was the first European to sight the Bathurst Plains in 1813, following the first successful British crossing of the Blue Mountains in the same year. In 1814, Governor Lachlan Macquarie approved an offer by William Cox to build a road crossing the Blue Mountains, from Emu Plains to the Bathurst Plains. This road was wide and long, built between 18 July 1814 and 14 January 1815 using 5 freemen, 30 convict labourers and 8 soldiers as guards. Twenty convicts and soldiers remained stationed at terminus of the road at the Bathurst Plains. These were the first non-Indigenous residents of what was to become Bathurst but was simply referred to until May 7 of that year as the Grand Depot. Governor Macquarie surveyed the finished road in April 1815, travelling along it to the Grand Depot with his wife and an entourage of 50 officials, soldiers and servants. On 7 May 1815, Governor Macquarie raised the British flag at the Grand Depot, ordered a ceremonial volley to be fired and named the military outpost as Bathurst after the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst. Bathurst thereby became the oldest inland British settlement in Australia. William Cox, who was appointed the first Commandant of Bathurst, and William Lawson were promised large grants of land in the area…

Geography

Bathurst is located on the western edge of the Great Dividing Range in the Macquarie River plain; also known as the Bathurst plains. The Macquarie River, which is part of the Murray-Darling basin, the largest river system in Australia, runs through the centre of the city. A number of levee banks have been erected in Bathurst to protect the region from occasional flood events. Mount Panorama is located from the CBD and effectively within the city limits; it is AMSL and rises above the Bathurst CBD. The Great Western Highway, which begins in the centre of the city of Sydney, ends at Bathurst. Two main state highways start at Bathurst: the Mitchell Highway to Bourke and the Mid-Western Highway to Hay. Bathurst is about mid-way along a regional road route from Canberra and Goulburn to Mudgee and the Hunter Region. Bathurst is also on the Main Western railway line that starts at Sydney Central and proceeds for by rail to Bathurst. The Macquarie River divides Bathurst with the CBD located on the western side of the river. Four road bridges and two rail bridges span the river within the city area. From the upstream side they are: Macquarie River Railway Bridge (built in 1876) closed in 2011 (replaced with a new concrete single track rail bridge structure alongside and brought into use in 2011); the four lane Evans Bridge which opened in 1995; the Denison Bridge opened in 1870 (closed to road traffic and now a pedestrian bridge); the Gordon Edgell Bridge, a low−level bridge located on George Street; and Rankens Bridge at Eglinton. Two physical components comprise the Bathurst region; the Bathurst Basin and the Tablelands areas. They are drained by the Macquarie, Turon, Fish and Campbells Rivers to the north and Abercrombie and Isabella Rivers to the south. The central…

Most-observed species

• Australian Magpie

  Gymnorhina tibicen (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  2,649
• Zieria obcordata A.Cunn.

  Zieria obcordata A.Cunn. · Magnoliopsida
  2,597
• Magpie-lark

  Grallina cyanoleuca (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  1,801
• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,751
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  1,458
• Galah

  Eolophus roseicapilla (Vieillot, 1817) · Aves
  1,443
• Crested Pigeon

  Ocyphaps lophotes (Temminck, 1822) · Aves
  1,411
• Common Brown

  Heteronympha merope Fabricius, 1775 · Insecta
  1,241

Most recent

• M 4.5 — 2026-04-14
  24 km ENE of Canowindra, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2024-03-08
  14 km SSW of Woodford, Australia
• M 3 — 2020-11-20
  27 km S of Oberon, Australia
• M 4.2 — 2017-04-13
  23 km WSW of Millthorpe, Australia
• M 3 — 2007-08-22
  24 km W of Oakdale, Australia
• M 4.2 — 2006-10-21
  48 km ESE of Cowra, Australia