Although exclusively for members of the Labor Party, the dinner is also a celebration of Bathurst’s own Ben Chifley, a man of humble beginnings who rose to become Australia’s 16th prime minister.

He served four years in the role from 1945 to 1949.

The name of the dinner was inspired by the phrase “the light on the hill”, which Chifley used to describe the objectives of the Labor Party during a conference speech in 1949.

This year’s dinner was held on Saturday night at Bathurst Panthers and was attended by more than 230 people.

With 2016 being an election year, the turnout was greater than expected.

Among the guests were a number of former and current House and Senate representatives, including Peter Primrose, Penny Sharpe, Greg Donnelly and Doug Cameron.

At the top of the guest list, though, was the night’s speaker, Don Watson.

Mr Watson is best known for being Paul Keating’s former speechwriter, but Bathurst Labor branch senior vice president Sue West said he is also a fantastic political analyst. 

Many people would also know him now as an author, having penned Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language and The Bush: Travels in the Heart of Australia, among other titles.

Ms West said the crowd responded well to him and valued what he had to say.

“He talked about a number of speeches he had written, he talked about the places he had been and he talked about Chifley,” she said.

While 230 people is an average turnout for the Light on the Hill dinner, which is in its 32^nd year, Ms West said Mr Watson was amazed to see so many in the room.

As a speechwriter, he is used to writing words of wisdom for others to read instead of speaking them himself, she said.

“He was quite surprised at the number of people who were there,” Ms West said.

“He was very humble about it. He couldn’t understand why we would all come to hear him speak.”

The Light on the Hill dinner is expected to return again in 2017, with Ms West defining it as a treasured Labor Party event that helps to reaffirm its vision.

“It has become very important. It has become a key event for the Labor Party, not just at a local level, but at a state and national level,” she said.