It may have to do with the fact that Ben Chifley, who was prime minister from 1945 to 1949, never abandoned his proud Bathurst roots.

Even when he was elected to Australia's highest public office, Chifley and his wife, Elizabeth, continued to call 10 Busby Street home, alongside the railroad tracks where he spent his formative years as a locomotive driver.

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Today, 10 Busby Street serves as an important cultural asset, with its carefully preserved 1950s aesthetic, inside and out, serving as a permanent centrepiece to the Chifley's proud Bathurst legacy.

Charles Sturt University history and politics lecturer Sam Malloy, who has had a lot to do with the Chifley Home's preservation and historical research over the past two decades, said the legacy of the Chifleys combines Australian political history with passionate local pride.

"Ben was a very loyal Bathurstian who was able to carry the ideals of a local man entrenched in unionism and working-class comprehension into Canberra as a Labor politician," he said.

"But he always called Bathurst home, and despite the gravitas of being the first post-World War II prime minister, Ben was able to keep his family, community and local organisations at heart when formulating policy.

"Then there's Elizabeth, who was not only supportive of her husband, but kept their Busby Street home in such an organised way that it inspired the preservation of the home for future generations."

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This year marks the 60^th anniversary of Elizabeth's death and her great-grandniece, Kim Bagot-Hiller, has played a big role in recent years to research and promote the history of Elizabeth and her sister, Burdie [Kim's grandmother].

Mr Malloy said the Chifley Home is one of only two house museums of former Australian prime ministers regularly open to the public, the other being Joseph Lyons' [1932-1939] former home in Devonport, Tasmania.

"There are other house museums that aren't regularly open, so Bathurst is very lucky to have an asset such as the Chifley Home," he said.

"With works currently under way to restore the former Cabramatta home of Gough Whitlam [1972-75], it's clear the significance of the Chifley Home is having an impact elsewhere."

Although it would regularly be open to the public, the Chifley Home remains closed due to conservation and remediation work.

"There's a lot of stories from oral history projects on Ben and Elizabeth which will be included in the reinterpretation of the Chifley Home when it reopens," Mr Malloy said.

"The reinterpretation will be conscious of changing audiences. We have to re-examine the Chifley's in the context of modern educational curricula and how their story is linked to wider events, such as the Cold War."

As a prime minister before the advent of modern technology, such as television, the internet and social media, Chifley wasn't subject to the persistent media attention modern prime ministers constantly face.

But Mr Malloy said Chifley is still heralded by contemporary politicians as a benchmark for staying relevant to constituents.

"Chifley was very good at keeping a sense of everyday people when deliberating policy, with Bathurst firmly in his mind, which is something I feel all contemporary politicians aspire to achieve, to varied success of course," he said.

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"He also wasn't afraid to make bold decisions, such as setting up more Australian universities post-WWII, committing to the Snowy Mountains Scheme and introduce more social services.

"But what Chifley would've found hard in today's political circles is how personal it has become. He wasn't shy of the media, but the nature of media back then was less intense than it is now."

Chifley's legacy to Australian politics is still celebrated in Bathurst through the annual Light on the Hill dinner, which is a pivotal event on the Australian Labor Party's calendar.

The event has seen every Labor prime minister from Gough Whitlam onwards visit Bathurst since its inception in 1985.

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