Bathurst Goldfields are located in Bathurst NSW. Compass Tours offer day and overnight school excursion packages to Bathurst Goldfields and Hill End together with surrounding attractions in the Central West region including Scenic World, Hartley, Jenolan Caves Delta Energy( Mt Piper Power Station), Heritage Park ( Bathurst Sheep and Cattle Drome), Australian Mineral and Fossil Museum, Mt Panorama racetrack and further to Dubbo Zoo and Gaol and Parkes Radio Telescope and many more.
Bathurst Goldfields are a reconstruction of a gold mining village which has a mine, a working stamper battery crushing ore, operative steam engines, a miner's hut, a blacksmith's forge and gold panning. Take a guided tour of the indoor museum, explaining the history of gold in New South Wales, the working life of a gold miner, displays of mining tools, documents from the gold rush era and minerals from around the world. There is an extensive display of general household items that were in use in the Victorian home. Tour will continue onto the outdoor museum with Chinese temple housing artefacts and see how the Chinese work practices and lifestyle varied from the European miners. Demonstrations of old style blacksmithing and see a steam engine room. Bathurst Goldfields offer Tours are in three components. Gold Tour - Duration 2 Hours, Life in the Goldfields Duration 2 Hours and Gold panning duration 1/2 Hour
Accommodation is also available at the Bathurst Goldfields Heritage Park or Bathurst Motels for overnight stays.
About The Area
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 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 and other cities in the Central West from a small provincial town to a major regional centres. The cities continue to expand, its prosperity steadily growing, and many significant buidings - hotels, banks, schools churches and stately homes were built to cater for the swell of citizens brought.
.png)