Bathurst Migrant Camp 1948-1952

The Migrant Camp was established along Limekilns Road, on the site of the former Bathurst Army Camp, in 1948 and was one of the major migrant reception centres in Australia. lt was considered to be a stopover for migrants before they resettled elsewhere. Most of them only stayed a few weeks or at the most a few months. The accommodation in the ex-army huts was makeshift and basic but due to a severe housing shortage in New South Wales at that time nothing else was available. The buildings were unlined iron sheds, wooden barracks and tents with many in poor condition needing constant repair. They were cold in winter and hot in summer.

At the time of the Centre’s closure in April 1952 Bathurst and District Chamber of Commerce reported that the Bathurst Reception and Training Centre now consisted  of 11 self-contained residential units (blocks) capable of accommodating a total of just over 6,000 persons in reasonable comfort.

The camp was viewed as a ‘fully self- contained township of its own’. Thus it was seen as separate from the Bathurst community while also allowing them to gain the commercial, social and cultural benefits without many of the costs

In May 1985 a migrant camp reunion was held and a memorial plaque unveiled to those who had passed through the centre.

Many of the children from the Migrant Camp died in childhood and in 2018 Bathurst Family History Group erected a memorial to them in the Catholic section of the Bathurst Cemetery.