Bathurst

Bathurst

Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

Bathurst, city, east-central New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the south bank of the Macquarie River, west of the Blue Mountains.

The city was founded in 1815 and named for Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, then secretary for war and the colonies, and it is the oldest settlement west of the Great Dividing Range. Initially its growth was slow, but the population increased rapidly following the announcement of the discovery of gold in the vicinity in 1851. Bathurst was declared a town in 1833 and proclaimed a borough in 1862; it became a city in 1885.

Bathurst is now the service centre of a district producing sheep, grains, timber, fruits, and vegetables. Its industries include railway and precision-engineering works, flour mills, and canning, clothing, footwear, plastics, furniture, and ceramics plants. Bathurst lies at the junction of the Mitchell and Mid and Great Western highways and on the main rail line to Sydney (100 miles [160 km] southeast). The city has Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals, a memorial carillon tower, and a campus of Charles Sturt University (1989). Pop. (2006) urban centre, 28,992; (2011) urban centre, 31,294.