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Bathurst is a regional town in the Central
Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is
approximately 200 km west of Sydney and is the seat
of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the
oldest inland settlement in Australia and had an
urban population of 28,992 people on the 2006 census
night.
Today, Bathurst is synonymous with motorsport, being
the site of the Mount Panorama motor racing circuit.
It hosts the Bathurst 12 Hour motor race each
February and the Bathurst 1000 motor race each
October, during which the population swells with
visitors. It has a long history of racing beginning
with motorcycle racing from 1911. From 1931 to 1938,
motorcycle racing was conducted at the Old Vale
Circuit before moving to the newly created
Mount Panorama Circuit.
Bathurst is a cathedral city, being the seat for the
Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of Bathurst.
It was 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 unusual 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.
Central Bathurst is host to the Australian Fossil &
Mineral Museum, which houses the Somerville
Collection of fossils and minerals, and features
Australia's only complete Tyrannosaurus Rex
skeleton. The Somerville Collection also consists of
one of the largest collections of tourmaline in the
Southern Hemisphere.
Charles Sturt University has a major campus in
Bathurst, complementing campuses in Wagga Wagga,
Albury, Dubbo and Orange. It is a major provider of
regional tertiary education as well as distance
education both nationally and internationally. The
Bathurst campus offers courses in business,
communication, computer science, nursing, policing,
psychology, and teaching.
The Western Institute of TAFE has two campuses in
Bathurst. The College has 12 Industry Training
Divisions including arts and media, building and
construction, business services, computing and
information services, engineering services, rural
and mining services and tourism and hospitality.
Bathurst has numerous primary schools and high
schools, both public and private. These include the
All Saints College, Denison College, MacKillop
College, St. Stanislaus College and The Scots
School.
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.
Other major roads in Bathurst include Durham Street,
Eleven Mile Drive, and Bradwardine Road.
Bathurst Railway Station is located ten minutes'
walk 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.
Regional Express Airlines is the only airline
providing passenger services at Bathurst Airport; it
services the route from Bathurst to Sydney. Several
flight schools operate from the airport, and it is
used very frequently by trainee pilots during their
navigation training.
The main suburbs of Bathurst are; Kelso, Eglinton,
West Bathurst, Bathurst, Llanarth, South Bathurst,
Rose Hill, Windradyne and Abercrombie Estate. One of
the newer suburbs is Marsden Estate, in Kelso. |