More than 330 people turned out to hear the popular senator speak.

President of Bathurst Labor Dr Miranda Gott said this was about 150 more than last year, a mark of Senator Wong's popularity and of the renewed interest in Labor politics locally.

"Penny Wong really captured Ben Chifley's vision from the Light on the Hill speech he gave 65 years ago, and brought it into a context for today's social and political challenges," Dr Gott said.

Senator Wong began her address by painting an evocative picture of the former Prime Minister.

"Many years after he'd left the railways, Ben Chifley recalled the feeling of driving a train through the dark the 'eyes of 14 carriages looking at you round the bends'," she said.

"He could still feel his hand on the throttle, he said, and 'hear the blow of the steam and the hiss of the Westinghouse'.

"By then, of course, he had his hand on a much more powerful throttle the economic and monetary policy of the nation.

"You can almost see him, perhaps with his pipe in the corner of his mouth, safely steering the powerful engine of government policy through the night, alert for unexpected hazards and safeguarding the citizens whose lives and livelihoods depended on his skill and judgement," Senator Wong said.

However, she pointed out that before he became an engine driver, Chifley was a fireman a stoker. It was a back-breaking job but an important one.

"It was the fireman who judged how much fuel to add, or how little, to keep the steam at a constant pressure and the train at a steady speed," Senator Wong explained.

"And it was the fireman's skill and experience in spreading the fuel evenly, despite the rocking and the swaying of the train, that was essential to getting the best pace from the engine.

"When I think of Ben Chifley, I think not only of an engine driver who became Prime Minister I think of an engine stoker who became Treasurer, who understood the need for the judicious application of fuel at the right moment and the importance of an even burn for achieving the greatest efficiency.

"It shows that fighting for a fair society and a strong economy remains as central to the Labor mission today as it was in Chifley's era.

"It remains, indeed, our light on the hill," Senator Wong said.