Bathurst, New South Wales - 1875-1970s

Bathurst Gasworks

Bathurst Gasworks began producing coal gas in 1875, supplying the town's street lighting and domestic and industrial users. The plant operated a coal carbonisation process: raw coal was heated in sealed retort chambers to produce combustible gas, which was then purified and piped into the town's distribution mains. Spent coke was removed and sold as a secondary product.

The retort house was the operational centre of the works. Retort workers charged and discharged the chambers on a continuous cycle, in conditions that were hot regardless of season. The work required precision and physical endurance. The brickwork of the retort house absorbed the heat and the byproducts of the process over nearly a century of operation.

Natural gas replaced town gas progressively from the 1960s as the distribution network extended into regional centres. Bathurst Gasworks became redundant and closed. The site was retained as a heritage facility and is one of the more intact surviving gasworks complexes in NSW.

The retort house, the coal storage infrastructure, and the purification equipment remain on site. The photographs were made there in 2016.