Bathurst RSL celebrates 95 years of being a community social hub

Celebrating 95 years of business in Bathurst, and 90 years this year at the Rankin Street premises, members, staff and guests all congregated at the local club to honour the significant birthday.

Life member and former RSL president Brian Tobin was one of the many who attended the special event.

Mr Tobin has been a member of the club for around 55 years and was given a life membership around 20 years ago.

He said the 95^th birthday celebrations were well-received and everyone seemed to enjoy the day.

"It was a monstrous cake, the room was full and there was a nice lot of people here," Mr Tobin said.

Bathurst RSL marketing manager Janneke van der Sterren said the club was very pleased with the turnout and it was nice to see so many people keen to celebrate with them.

"It went wonderfully well, I'm not sure exactly how many members we had but the lounge bar was full," she said.

"We had representatives from our sub-branch, from the Vietnam Veterans, from LEGACY, some life members there as well which was great.

"We've been talking about it all month but it was a nice way to celebrate with our members."

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The RSL first came about in 1928, when a small group of returned servicemen met at Heath's Café.

Fast forward to 2023 and the club is now a hub for more than 15,000 locals to meet up.

With the addition of multiple rooms and facilities, the RSL now hosts multiple events and functions on a regular basis, as well as the usual lunch and dinner options in the bistro.

A lot of the expansions were done following a significant increase in memberships during the 1950s and '60s.

These included the addition of the auditorium, dining room, kitchen, members lounge, administration offices, memorial dome and more.

The Club also owned a bowling green, which was situated where the Bathurst Police Station is now, and in 1975 a Fitness Centre was opened which is now occupied by Cityfit.

These assets were sold in the 1980's, however five years ago the Bathurst RSL Club reacquired the Cityfit building.

Ms van der Sterren said while many things have changed over the years, the one thing that hasn't is that the club remains at the heart of the community.

"Our values of respect, service and loyalty guide everything we do, from providing the people of Bathurst with a great place to meet and socialize, to supporting a wide variety of clubs, community groups and charities with financial and in-kind support," she said.

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