During the 1880’s the Railway Commission in New South Wales built workshops on the land adjoining the station. This started a large railway workers' community and a Rail Institute, which made many jobs available and drew thousands of workers to Bathurst. In the early years of the 20th century, Ben Chifley, later Prime Minister of Australia, attended night school and extension classes there. Union meetings Chifley attended at the Institute helped to shape his Labour convictions.

Many changes and additions were made to the Bathurst rail yards in the late 19th century and 20th century, examples of which include the original stockyards (c1900), a wagon repair shed (1891), a new turntable (1897), platform lengthened (1897), waiting shed erected on the Down platform (1902), Down platform extended and widened (1911), line duplicated (1915) elevated coal storage (1916), refreshment room (1917), new T6 trucking yards (1927), and an additional signal box (East Box) in 1944.

Following WWII (between 1945 and 1960) there were as many as 500 railway workers working at Bathurst station and yard. By the 1970’s, changes in freight transportation trends and the move from steam to diesel locomotives resulted in the redundancy of many buildings and former functions on site and the rationalisation of many structures. The refreshment room closed in 1968 and The Railway Institute in 1975.

We took this picture and come to choose photographs for this blog, why have we this – I can’t remember, better look it up. Yes, Captain. Bathurst is a regional city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales. Approximately one hundred and twenty miles west of Sydney, is the oldest inland settlement in Australia and had an estimated population of 33,110 people on 2011 Census night. Bathurst is often referred to as the Gold Country as it was the site of the first gold discovery and where the first gold rush occurred in Australia.