Lake Bathurst, New South Wales

Lake Bathurst
Lake Bathurst from space shuttle(1985) is at top of photo
Location	New South Wales
Coordinates	35°03′S 149°44′E / 35.050°S 149.733°E / -35.050; 149.733Coordinates: 35°03′S 149°44′E / 35.050°S 149.733°E / -35.050; 149.733
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	10 km2 (3.9 sq mi)

Lake Bathurst (Aboriginal: Bundong) is a shallow lake located 27 kilometres (17 mi) south-east of Goulburn, New South Wales in Australia.

The surface area of the lake can vary from 2 square kilometres (0.77 sq mi) up to 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi), depending on the inflow and evaporation rates.

Lake Bathurst is also the name of a very small village, located on the Goulburn-Braidwood Road, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) west of the lake.

Both the lake and the village were named by surveyor James Meehan in honour of Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

The lake is an important site for Australasian shovellers. A 19 square kilometres (7.3 sq mi) 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.

During World War 2, 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).