The remains of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst

This afternoon I drove out to the the site of the Department of Immigration Reception and Training Centre, Bathurst. This was my father's first place of residence in Australia in late 1949 and for some of 1950. The Australian army also had a camp at the same location from 1940 to 1947. The migrant camp as I mentioned in an earlier post is long gone (it closed in 1952) and the place is now occupied by the Bathurst Sheep and Cattle Drome (i.e. aerodrome) and other than a memorial by the entry road there was nothing above ground I could see. The above photo shows a general view of the Drome from the entry road (click on the image to enlarge).

The site is surrounded by farming land in all directions, with the town of Bathurst 8 kms to the north west, and in that regard the basic look is not much different from the time the camps (Immigration and Army) were here.

In a future post I will have more to say, once I finish, my reading and current research, that is!

Above, a relic, possibly a wool dray (used to transport bales of raw wool until the 1930's) with an iron/steel plow? dumped on top.