| Lake Bathurst | |
| Location: | Southern Tablelands, New South Wales |
| Coordinates: | -35.05°N 193°W |
| Etymology: | Earl Bathurst |
| Basin Countries: | Australia |
| Area: | 2km210km2 |
| Pushpin Map: | Australia New South Wales |
| Pushpin Map Alt: | A map of New South Wales, Australia, with a mark indicating the location of Lake Bathurst |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in New South Wales |
Lake Bathurst (Aboriginal: Bundong) is a shallow lake located south-east of Goulburn, New South Wales in Australia. It is also the name of a nearby locality in the Goulburn Mulwaree Council.
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,[1] and the nearby village was named after the lake.
thumb|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 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.[2] [3]
| Type: | town |
| Lake Bathurst | |
| State: | nsw |
| Coordinates: | -35.0158°N 149.6506°W |
| Lga: | Goulburn Mulwaree Council |
| County: | Argyle |
| Parish: | Covan |
| Region: | Southern Tablelands |
| Postcode: | 2580 |
| Pop: | 228 |
| Stategov: | Goulburn |
| Fedgov: | Hume |
| Dist1: | 45 |
| Dir1: | S |
| Location1: | Goulburn |
| Dist2: | 80 |
| Dir2: | NE |
| Location2: | Canberra |
| Near-N: | Tirrannaville |
| Near-Ne: | Quialigo |
| Near-E: | Windellama |
| Near-Se: | Lower Boro |
| Near-S: | Tarago |
| Near-Sw: | Tarago |
| Near-W: | Currawang |
| Near-Nw: | Currawang |
Lake Bathurst is also the name of a very small village, located on the Goulburn-Braidwood Road, west of the lake. At the, the Lake Bathurst area had a population of 228.
Lake Bathurst had a railway station (-35.015°N 149.6481°W) on the Bombala railway line from 1884 to 1975.[4]
Another station (-34.9655°N 149.6476°W) was established under the name of Inveralochy in the northern part of the locality in 1890 and was closed in 1974.[5]
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).