Lake Bathurst ( Aboriginal: ''Bundong'') is a shallow

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

located south-east of

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in Australia. It is also the name of a nearby locality in the

Goulburn Mulwaree Council Goulburn Mulwaree Council is a Local government in Australia, local government area located in the Southern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is located adjacent to the Hume Highway and the Southern Highlands railway line ...

Features and location

The surface area of the lake can vary from up to , 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, and the nearby village was named after the lake.

Birds

left, The lake is an important site for Australasian shovellers. The lake is an important site for Australasian shovellers. A area of the lake and its immediate surrounds has been identified by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) because it regularly supports significant numbers of

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

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 swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent ...

s, chestnut teals and

sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') is a small-medium migratory wader or shorebird, found mostly in Siberia during the summer breeding period (June to August) and Australia for wintering (September to March). Taxonomy The gen ...

Locality

Lake Bathurst is also the name of a very small

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

, located on the Goulburn-Braidwood Road, west of the lake. At the , the Lake Bathurst area had a population of 228.

Lake Bathurst station

Lake Bathurst had a railway station () on the Bombala railway line from 1884 to 1975.

Inveralochy station

Another station () was established under the name of Inveralochy in the northern part of the locality in 1890 and was closed in 1974.

Military history

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the governor-general of Aus ...

and the

US Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).