In 1813, the explorers Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Charles Wentworth, together with a group of Aboriginal people and convicts, found a way to cross the Blue Mountains from the western edge of the Sydney settlement.  The expedition was privately funded in a bid to discover new grazing lands for the new colony.

Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth 's expedition was followed by a second exploration party which included William Lawson, the surveyor George Evans and the engineer William Cox who would later build the road across the mountains to the western plains.

"I came upon a fine plain of rich land, the handsomest Country I ever saw.....This place is worth speaking of as good and beautiful.....I have named it after the Lieutenant Governor, "O'Connell Plains". I stopped at the commencement of a plain still more pleasing and very extensive. I cannot see the termination of it North of me; the hills have the look of a park and grounds laid out: I am at a loss for language to describe the country: I named this part "Macquarie Plains".
Evans Log book dated 6th. December 1813.

Settlers soon ventured to the newly found land to establish themselves, and Bathurst was established as one of the six Macquarie towns.  The population consisted largely of settlers, convicts and the military who were needed because of early conflict with the local Aboriginal people and the dangers presented by escaped convicts and bushrangers in the area.

In 1829, an insurgent uprising by a group of Irish convicts occurred. The uprising was eventually put down by the military Redcoats and 14 of the convicts involved were hanged. The place of execution is still known today as Ribbon Gang Lane.

In 1830, Governor Darling ordered that more land be released to settlers and the military in order to open up the country for farming and settlement.



>John West and Thomas West

John West and his brother Thomas settled on the Macquarie Plains around that time.They took up a land grant and in 1830 built a sod-walled house.  They called it Westham and it remains as part of the Westham Farmhouse to this day.

The house measured 30 feet by 15 feet, with 6 yellow box timbers, each one foot square, as framework for the earth walls facing North and South.  Hardwood slab walls were built on the East and West facades.

This rammed earth structure is still in good condition and remains as the central core of the building that evolved as the West family prospered.

The West family proved to be successful grain growers and Joseph West of Macquarie Plains was described as “the most extensive wheat grower in the Bathurst district”.  Joseph West took a leading role in pioneering the purchase of newly imported threshing machines, which greatly increased the efficiency of the threshing process. 

West also used a reaping machine by which he was able to greatly increase the yield of his wheat cultivation thereby proving that the use of machines was of great benefit to agriculture and added to the grower 's prosperity.