query: What is the population of Bathurst?
passage: Bathurst, New South Wales
Bathurst /ˈbæθərst/ is a regional city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. It is about 200 kilometres (120mi) north-west of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in Australia[2] and had a population of approximately 35,000 as at the 2016 Census.
passage: History of infrastructure development in Bathurst
To develop, a town needs access from the adjacent populated centres. In 1813 the Bathurst district was discovered by an exploration party from Sydney that crossed the wild mountain range known as 'The Blue Mountains'. From that point the region was identified as ideal farming land and the Governor ordered a road to be built across the mountain range to the new settlement of Bathurst. This set the scene for population growth and development of the entire western region of the colony of New South Wales.