Lake Bathurst (New South Wales)

Lake Bathurst (Ngunnawal–Gundungurra language: Bundong)^[1] is a shallow lake located 27 kilometres (17 mi) south-east of Goulburn, New South Wales in Australia. It is also the name of a nearby locality in the Goulburn Mulwaree Council.

Lake Bathurst
Bundong
Lake Bathurst at the top of the image, pictured in 1985, viewed from a Space Shuttle. The larger lake is Lake George.
Lake Bathurst Location in New South Wales
Location	Southern Tablelands, New South Wales
Coordinates	35°03′S 149°44′E
Etymology	Earl Bathurst
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	2 to 10 km2 (0.77 to 3.86 sq mi)

Features and location

The surface area of the lake can vary from 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) up to 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi), depending on the inflow and evaporation rates.

The lake was named by surveyor James Meehan in honour of Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies,^[2] and the nearby village was named after the lake.

Birds

The lake is an important site for Australasian shovellers.

The lake is an important site for Australasian shovellers. A 19 square kilometres (7.3 sq mi) area of the lake and its immediate surrounds has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it regularly supports significant numbers of near threatened blue-billed ducks and over 1% of the world population of Australasian shovellers. It is an important drought refuge, sometimes supporting over 1% of the world populations of freckled ducks, black swans, chestnut teals and sharp-tailed sandpipers.^[3][4]

Locality

Lake Bathurst New South Wales
Lake Bathurst
Coordinates	35°00′57″S 149°39′02″E
Population	228 (2016 census)[5]
Postcode(s)	2580
Location	45 km (28 mi) S of Goulburn 80 km (50 mi) NE of Canberra
LGA(s)	Goulburn Mulwaree Council
Region	Southern Tablelands
County	Argyle
Parish	Covan
State electorate(s)	Goulburn
Federal division(s)	Eden-Monaro
Localities around Lake Bathurst: Currawang Tirrannaville Quialigo Currawang Lake Bathurst Windellama Tarago Tarago Lower Boro

Lake Bathurst is also the name of a very small village, located on the Goulburn-Braidwood Road, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the lake.^[6] At the 2016 census, the Lake Bathurst area had a population of 228.^[5]

Lake Bathurst station

Site of former Lake Bathurst station

Site of Inverlochy station

Lake Bathurst had a railway station (35°00′54″S 149°38′53″E) on the Bombala railway line from 1884 to 1975.^[7][8]

Inveralochy station

Another station (34°57′56″S 149°38′51″E) was established under the name of Inveralochy in the northern part of the locality in 1890 and was closed in 1974.^[9][10]

Military history

During World War II, Lake Bathurst was the location of RAAF No.16 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 and closed on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of 4 tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).^[11]