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Bathurst Gold
Bathurst was settled in 1815, and has the distinction of being the first inland settlement west of the Blue Mountains. By the 1850s the settlement had expanded to become a prosperous town due to a successful wool industry.
This prosperity was suddenly magnified with the discovery of gold in the area. The earliest recorded discovery of gold in Australia had been made near Bathurst in 1823 by a surveyor James McBrien, who was surveying for a road along the Fish River between Bathurst and Rydal, but it was not until 1851 that "payable" gold was discovered by Edward Hammond Hargreaves at Ophir. Hargreaves had previously worked on the goldfields of California, and was struck by the similarity of the geology and landscape of the Bathurst area to gold-rich California.
A rush to the area ensued. More gold was discovered on the Turon River in July of the same year, and prospectors flocked to the area, following the western road from Sydney to Bathurst to purchase equipment and supplies before making their way to the Turon Goldfields. A settlement at Sofala quickly grew up, as it was suitably sited on a small plain above the river, amidst some of the richest gold deposits of the area.
The townships of Bald Hills (later renamed Hill End) and Tambaroora emerged when gold was discovered there shortly after the rush to Ophir. For the first time, reef gold was extracted, and a battery stamper was brought from England to Bald Hills. Tens of thousands of people poured into Tambaroora and Hill End through the 1870s. Significant townships with substantial commercial buildings, hotels and churches grew up. During this boom time, Bernard Otto Holtermann discovered the largest single gold nugget of reef gold found anywhere in the world. It measured 4 feet 2 inches in height, 2 feet 2 inches in width and had an average thickness of four inches. It was valued at 12,000 pounds, a phenomenal sum at the time.
With gold fever sweeping the Central West, transport became a major issue. Cobb and Co, the famous American coaching company arrived in Bathurst in 1862, and the town became its headquarters west of the Blue Mountains for the next forty-nine years. Coaches ran regularly from Bathurst to the Goldmining centres of Sofala and Hill End, carrying passengers, supplies and the all-essential Post to these thriving settlements.
The days of gold and coaches eventually passed, but the gold rushes of the 1850s to 1870s had transformed Bathurst from a small provincial town to a major regional centre. The city continued to expand, its prosperity steadily grew, and many significant buidings - hotels, banks, schools churches and stately homes - were built to cater for the swell of citizens brought to the area by the lure of gold.