Bathurst, New South Wales
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Bathurst is a regional centre in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It has a population of 32,000. It located at latitude: 33° 25' 06" East and longitude: 149°34' 46" South
History
The Bathurst area was originally occupied by the Wiradjuri peoples. The government surveyor George William Evans was the first settler 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 Colonial Secretary Lord Bathurst. It was intended to be the administrative centre of the newly discovered western plains of New South Wales.
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 m&ups;2), 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 (http://genealogy.wikicities.com/wiki/John_Blackman_(1795-1867)), James Blackman (http://genealogy.wikicities.com/wiki/James_Blackman_(1754-1842)), 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 m&ups;2) of land, a servant, a cow, four bushels (141 L) of wheat, 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. Today it is a regional services centre, the home of one of the campuses of Charles Sturt University, and a tourism centre.
Bathurst is known as the home of Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley, who represented the area in the Federal Parliament and is buried in Bathurst. It has also become a national centre for motor-racing, particularly for the Bathurst 1000 motor race.
External links
- Charles Sturt University website (http://www.csu.edu.au)
- City of Bathurst website (http://www.bathurst.nsw.gov.au/)
- Bathurst 24-hour motor race website (http://www.bathurst24hr.com)