Bathurst is a cathedral city, being the seat for the Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of Bathurst. The city is dotted with many churches and other religious buildings such as schools and halls. The main cathedrals are All Saints' Anglican Cathedral, and St Michael and St John's Cathedral (Catholic), then there are many churches and places of worship including St Stephens Presbyterian Church & Hall, Assumption Church (Catholic), St Barnabas' South Bathurst (Anglican) and others.
Bathurst was also the home of wartime Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley, who represented the area in the Federal Parliament and is buried in Bathurst. His legacy is celebrated by the Labour Party each year with a function known as the Light on the Hill speech by a senior Labour figure. The Light on the Hill speech was first delivered to the ALP Conference by Chifley in 1949.
Bathurst is unusual in that it has a collection of house museums representing different periods of its history from first settlement to the 1970s. The house museums include Old Government Cottage built 1837�1860, Abercrombie House a 40 room historic mansion built c. 1870s, Miss Traill's House built in 1845, and Chifley Home which retains the simple furnishings that demonstrated the lifestyle and image of Chifley as a �plain man�.
Bathurst is home to several museums including the Bathurst Historical Society Museum located in the left wing of the historic courthouse. This museum includes in its collection a range of Aboriginal artefacts and large collections of documents relating to Bathurst's early history and collection of local items from Australia's early settlement. Central Bathurst is host to the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, which houses the Somerville Collection of fossils and minerals, and features Australia's only complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton. The Somerville Collection also consists of one of the largest collections of tourmaline in the Southern Hemisphere. The Fossil and
