Fifteen years since Orange and Bathurst saleyards closed

Orange City Council says it is "seeking the services of a suitably qualified and experienced consultant" to develop an industrial estate design, as well as the infrastructure for it.

A 10-lot industrial subdivision is planned for the land, which is in Orange's south.

Orange City Council decided in 2021 to develop the former saleyards site while also attempting to preserve its history.

The council agreed that year to cut up a covered walkway/shelter and for one section to be retained on the site and another to be moved to a planned rest stop on the eastern entrance of the Mitchell Highway.

It came more than a decade after Orange and Bathurst's facilities closed in 2008 ahead of the opening of the new Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange at Carcoar.

The end to the Bathurst Saleyards, in the city's south, was particularly torturous.

Bathurst Regional Council made the call in late 2006 to close the facility, but, as late as the end of 2007, the council was still wrestling with the decision.

At an extraordinary meeting held on November 22, 2007, a packed public gallery of about 250 people watched as councillors voted again to close the rundown Vale Road yards and instead support the regional selling centre being built at Carcoar.

ACM reported at the time that councillor Norm Mann was heckled throughout by the crowd that filled the council chambers and overflowed into the foyer when he put forward a motion that the closure of the saleyards was entirely a matter for council and that the council reconfirm its position on the matter.

Three months later, the Advocate reported that the first sale at the new Central Tablelands Livestock Exchange (CTLX) had attracted hundreds of people for a yarding of 14,850 lambs and 7650 sheep.

The first pen, three woolly lambs, were donated by Brian Baker, of Spring Terrace, and the $500 winning bid was knocked down to Roger Lloyd from the Perpetual Regional Infrastructure Fund, the owners of the complex.

The money was to be donated to Lifeline, the Advocate reported.

CTLX representative Mick Dudgeon said he was thrilled with the turnout.

"We were hoping for about 15,000 sheep and lambs, but to get 22,500 first up was terrific," he said.

"I think that first impressions count and certainly people had that 'wow' factor when they first drove in through the front gates."

At Blayney, roof and floor truss company TrussCo's new 6000 square metre home opened in early 2021 on the site of that town's former saleyards.

Engineering director Ian Reeks said at the time that once the planning and permissions were all in place, the "construction of the building only took three months".

The old saleyards were on Blayney's northern outskirts.

At neighbouring Orange, meanwhile, former councillor and mayor Reg Kidd said in 2012 that "people don't know, but in about 1946 this city was actually the largest sheep selling centre in Australia".

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