Bathurst

Former name (to 1973) of Banjul, capital of Gambia.

Bathurst

City in the central tableland district of New South Wales, Australia, on the south bank of the River Macquarie, 204 km/127 mi west of Sydney; population (1996) 26,029. Bathurst is the service centre for the surrounding agricultural region which produces cattle, sheep, orchard fruits, and vegetables. The town dates from the 1851 gold rush.

Named after Lord Henry Bathurst, the British Secretary of State for war and the colonies, Bathurst is one of the oldest inland cities in Australia.

Features An annual motor race is held at the Mount Panorama Circuit (1938) nearby. The town has a campus of Charles Sturt University and also has a Conservatorium of Music.

Economy Secondary industries include the manufacture of food, bricks, shoes, and railway locomotives, and activities associated with the timber industry, such as furniture production. There is a vegetable cannery, a fish-processing plant, and a pet food processing plant.

Bathurst

City, port, and administrative headquarters of Gloucester County, north New Brunswick, Canada; population (1991) 15,900. It is situated at the mouth of the Nepisiguit River. Industries include copper and zinc mining; products include paper and timber.

Bathurst was founded by French missionaries in 1619 and called Nepisiguit. It became British in 1755 and was renamed Bathurst in 1826; it was incorporated as a city in 1966.