Bathurst is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Founded in 1815, Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in Australia and had a population of 47,396 in 2024. Bathurst is often referred to as the Gold Country, as the area was the site of Australia's first discovery of payable gold in 1851, and where the continent's first gold rush occurred.