Bathurst Suburb Overview
Bathurst is a regional city 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 has an estimated population of 34,303 people. Bathurst City is the 29th largest population area of the 135 regional NSW population areas in 2009. Residents of Bathurst are known as
Bathurst is often referred to as Gold Country as it was the site of the first gold discovery and where the first gold rush occurred in Australia. Today it is education, tourism and manufacturing that drive the economy. Internationally known racetrack Mount Panorama is also a landmark of the city. Bathurst has a historic city centre with many buildings remaining from the gold rush period of the mid to late 1800s.
The median age of the population is 32.9 years;this is related to the large education sector in the community and is particularly young for a regional centre Population growth has reached 1.6% per annum over the five years until 2010, making Bathurst the seventh fastest growing regional city in NSW. This growth over recent years has seen the construction of new shopping centres and retail precincts, sporting facilities, housing estates and expanding industrial areas.
Bathurst is located on the western edge of the Great Dividing Range in the Macquarie River plain the area also known as the Bathurst plains. The city straddles the Macquarie River, a river that feeds into the Murray Darling River system which is the largest river system in Australia. The city is protected by a levee bank to protect the city from occasional flood events. Mount Panorama is located 3 km from the CBD and effectively within the city limits;it is 877m AMSL and rises 215m above the Bathurst CBD.
Bathurst is located on the Great Western Highway which begins in the centre of the city of Sydney and finishes at Bathurst. Within the city, two main state highways start: the Mitchell Highway to Bourke and the Mid-Western Highway to Hay. Bathurst is located approximately mid-way along a regional road route from Canberra and Goulburn to Mudgee and the Hunter Valley. Bathurst is also located on the Main Western Railway line that starts at Sydney Central Station and proceeds for 242 rail kilometres 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: Rail Bridge closed in 2011 the four lane Evans Bridge which opened in 1995, the Denison Bridge opened in 1870 , the George Street low level bridge, and the Eglington Bridge.
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 basin area of the Bathurst area is mainly granite soils while in the north area sandstone, conglomerates, greywacke, siltstones, limestones and minor volcanos predominate. The south is more complex geology with siltstones, sandstones, greywacke, shales and chert, basalt and granite intrusions and embeded volcanic and limestones. Underlying Bathurst is the dominant feature of Bathurst granite and at Mount Panorama and Mount Stewart basalt occurs.
Topography of the region ranges from slightly undulating to rough and very steep country, approximately 30 km to the east of Bathurst is the folded and faulted sedimentary and metamorphosed formations of the Great Dividing Range which runs roughly north-south.
Bathurst is in Australia’s cool temperate climate zone which is defined as having mild to warm summers and cool to cold winters. Regular summer thunderstorms are common, resulting from the flat plains country to the west, leading into the mountainous nature of the country around Bathurst and assisting the development of storm cells. In winter, light snowfalls occur on higher peaks around Bathurst, typically a few days each year.
Bathurst’s CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park and monuments.
Bathurst has retained a mix of main street shopping along with enclosed shopping centres within the CBD, unlike other towns where the CBD focus has split between main street and new shopping centre developments located in the suburbs. Within the CBD lies Kings Parade;this is a park setting with several memorials of people and events in history. It is a popular location for locals to meet. Keppel Street is Bathurst’s second commercial shopping area, removed from the CBD by two blocks to the south. This area developed once the railway arrived in 1876. City planners are responsible for conservation of the historical buildings within Bathurst.
Nearby Suburbs
