Dr Lupp received his PhD at a recent CSU graduation ceremony on June 3 for his monumental work: Building Bathurst [2018].

The richly illustrated history documents the careers and contribution of more than 70 19^th century architects and builders who created the city of Bathurst, Australia's oldest European inland settlement.

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Although the origins of Building Bathurst can be traced back to 1969, Dr Lupp said the book itself was written between January 2013 and November 2017.

"It was refreshing to spend the best part of six years immersing myself in the lives of others," Dr Lupp said.

"Behind the writing lay a deep-seated personal ambition, and with my background in architecture, a passion for history, and being a native of the town, it seemed the task had fallen to me."

As a long-time member of the Bathurst District Historical Society, Dr Lupp had read most of the many histories of Bathurst written by others, and as a result, it became apparent to him that there was a gap in the detailed recognition of the town's earliest regional architects and builders.

Dr Lupp said his book satisfied a long-held personal urge to explore a neglected part of our regional history.

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"It seemed to me a proper recognition of those who physically created the city was overdue," he said.

"Buildings are the most obvious remnants of the past, so knowing something of their creation is fundamentally important.

"Building Bathurst is the result of something I was, sooner or later, destined to attempt of my own volition, even without formal academic supervision."

Dr Lupp said a central research question arose which encompassed the numerous developments outlined in the Introduction to the two volumes.

"As the study centred on Bathurst and central NSW, the research focused on the question: how were the unique problems facing architectural development in regional areas of colonial Australia solved?" he said.

"It is thought that a study addressing these issues has not previously been undertaken in any similar city around Australia."

Dr Lupp had a particular interest in Edward Gell [1818-1899), the dominant Bathurst architect from 1858 to 1879, who produced more than 150 buildings in his brief 22-year career in Bathurst.

He also discovered that nearly all the Bathurst architects portrayed in the book designed buildings much further afield, spanning much of regional NSW.

"The huge region covered was surprising considering the constraints of transport and communications, and illustrates how far some architects, or their agents, were prepared to travel, even in the time before the vast reach of coach companies or the rapid growth of the state's rail network," he said.

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His research also encompassed the advent of Mechanics Institutes, (Hobart 1827, Sydney 1833), which saw formal training offered as accredited courses in most trades, including bricklaying, masonry, carpentry, joinery, plumbing, plastering and painting.

The first institute in Bathurst was called The School of Arts and Mechanics Institute, which opened in 1841, closed briefly, but reopened in 1855 as the Bathurst Mechanics' School of Arts.

"This meant vocational qualifications became more available to the general populace," Dr Lupp said.

"By about 1860 these Schools of Arts' curricula expanded to include more general education with lectures offered in the arts, theatre, literature, and history."

Dr Lupp acknowledges the many sources who assisted his endeavours over many years, in particular Bathurst Regional Council and CSU, who both assisted with the publication of Building Bathurst.

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