The property is owned by Bathurst Showground Trust and the New South Wales Department of Trade & Investment, Regional Infrastructure & Services.

[1] The Macquarie Valley, in which Bathurst was later situated, was inhabited by the Wiradjuri people, their land extending from the western side of the Dividing Range to the Darling River.

Governor Brisbane declared martial law in August 1824, but the attacks continued with a man named Windradyne being a prominent figure in resistance.

[1] Although several ploughing matches were held during the 1850s, the first lasting agricultural society was established in 1860 at the village of O'Connell, 23.5 kilometres to the south east of Bathurst.

The local paper, the "Free Press" argued an association was necessary as farmers in the district were not taking up labour and time saving technology, such as winnowers and thrashers, as eagerly as they aught.

[4] The annual Shows must have had mixed success in this respect, as the technological phobias of the districts farmers were mentioned again in 1894, the press believing that farming was carried out in "a very crude manner".

[5][1] An additional motivation of the Association was to gather the scattered occupants of the region together so that "ignorance would not flourish and to provide an avenue for socialisation".

During the following year the area was fenced, trees were planted, new horse and cattle stalls were erected and a half mile trotting track was formed.

The importance that was placed on the plantings is borne out by the engagement of architect Edward Gell, for 50 pounds, to provide advice on the issue.

Towards the end of the century, the Show brought the first rotary disc ploughs, irrigation pumps, bath heaters, milk separators and shearing equipment seen in the area.

The Committee had considerable success in attracting prominent men to perform this task, including several Premiers (Sir George Dibbs, Hon.

Having learnt from their experience during World War One, the Committee set a strict agreement in place to allow the Army to occupy the site.

Despite the downturn in business the Show was still seen as "a great occasion for those who live on the outskirts of the district, as it offers them an excuse for a days rest and a chance to meet old friends.

During the 1970s it was necessary to mortgage the Showground in order to give the Bank of New South Wales security for an overdraft, which the Committee had operated the finances through for many years.

Overall, a unified fairground aesthetic is created, despite the eclectic use of timber, iron and masonry, which is complemented by the setting on the Macquarie River and the plantings described above.

However, by the end of that decade the management of the Ashfield Recreation Ground, a private company, was in financial trouble and the decision was taken to sell its buildings.

[1] The main elevation faces south, is distinctively broad and gabled, being marked by its central entrance porch, flanked by small rooms with hipped roofs and surmounted by the stumpy tower.

[1] Of almost equal interest is the treatment of the remainder of this front, which includes fine panelled and patterned boarding, notched and bracketed barge boards, eaves soffits, scalloped friezes and a radiating design over the semicircular windows, decorated window lintels and a prominent "keystone", all done in cut and fretted timber.

The south or front elevation consists of nine "bays" of uneven width, marked by wide vertical cover straps and sheeted in corrugated iron.

At the south end there is a semi-octagonal full-height apse, incorporating the entrance door, flanked by rooms under the skillion roof, which is hipped at the south-east and south-west corners.

The north and south ends feature the roof monitor, which is given ingenious pediment treatment by means of decorative fretwork timber boarding.

The main gables are sheeted with vertical boarding and the walls with weatherboards of various profiles including rebated rusticated, bull nose and chamferboard.

Very simple compared to other buildings, but makes an important contribution to the rural flavour of the showground group, demonstrating a uniquely Australian type of construction, now almost a forgotten art.

[1] In July 1891 the association were offered the grandstand and skating rink from the Ashfield Recreation Ground and Garden Palace, who had gone into receivership due to the depression.

With its very compact plan, vertically oriented form, romantic silhouette and modest polychrome brickwork, it has the character of a design derived from the 19th-century pattern-book, but no such source has yet been identified.

The floor plan is essentially a T-shape, two storeys with load bearing walls, timber joinery with sheet metal tiles simulating a Marseilles pattern.

[1] The arena has been the focus of showground activity ever since it was created, featuring not only equestrian and other competitive events, but demonstrations such as the first aeroplane flight to be seen in the central west, by "Wizard" Stone in 1912.

The Bathurst Showground is a worthy representation of this rural establishment having attracted people from a wide geographical area and it is an outstanding example of its type with regard to its aesthetic appeal and longevity.

The aesthetic effect of the careful planting of a range of exotic trees on the grounds is heightened its situation on the confluence of Vale Creek and the Macquarie River.

Glen Innes is a rare example of an aesthetically cohesive group of showground buildings in a carefully planned and maintained landscape setting.