About

Bathurst Refugee Support Group

Our group was established in December 1998 as Bathurst Inter-Church Refugee Support Group. Its name has since been changed to reflect that it is now a secular group.

Group Photo
Members of BRSG at the 2023 Christmas Party

This is what we do:

  • We meet once a month. Meetings are held on the 4thThursday of every month (except in December), from 5 – 6 pm, at the Activities Hall, Uniting Church, Bathurst. All interested people are welcome, whether members or not..
  • We organise local events to raise awareness about refugee and asylum seeker issues. The most recent being the guest lectures by Adj. Assoc. Prof. Eileen Pittaway in March 2024 and Paul Power, CEO of the Refugee Council of Australia, in March 2025; both events were in partnership with Charles Sturt University.
  • We work closely with STARTTS (Service for Rehabilitation and Treatment of Torture and Trauma Survivors).
  • We offer practical support to individual local refugees and refugees who may wish to relocate to Bathurst from Sydney.
  • We raise and provide modest financial support to other organisations that directly assist refugees and asylum seekers living in Australia or in detention.
  • We, as a group and individually advocate for a humane asylum policy that upholds Australia’s obligations under the Refugee Convention and respects human rights, including an end to mandatory and indefinite detention.

Our funds come from fundraising events, occasional grants by Bathurst Regional Council, and a small yearly membership fee. In June 2015, we were fortunate in receiving a grant from the Mercy Action Support Fund that has helped us with offering hospitality and settling-in support to asylum seeker families who had relocated to Bathurst from Sydney.

In 2010, the Bathurst Refugee Support Group was honoured to receive the Regional/Rural Humanitarian Award jointly presented by STARTTS (NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors) and the Refugee Council of Australia.