Orange is a regional city located in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales some 260 kilometres (3 to 3 ½ hour’s drive west of Sydney). Orange is known as the colour city and renowned for beautiful streetscapes, leafy parks and gardens and some of the best regional food and wine in Australia.
Orange is the largest urban area in Central West New South Wales and the local economy is extremely diverse, underpinned by mining, health services, education, retail trade, tourism and manufacturing industries.
Orange and its environs (40 kilometres radius of Post Office) has a usual resident population of approximately 50,000 people.
Orange acts as a major mining industry service centre. Orange is strategically located to service Rio Tinto’s North Parkes Gold and Copper Mine and Barrick Gold’s Lake Cowal Gold Mine together with the lower Hunter Valley and the Lithgow area coal mines. Even more significant is Orange’s proximity to Newcrest Mining’s Cadia Valley Gold and Copper operations located some 20 kilometres to the south of the city.
On 8 January 2010 the New South Wales Government announced planning approval for Newcrest Mining’s $2 billion Cadia East project. Cadia East will be Australia’s first panel cave mine, the deepest panel cave mine in the world, Australia’s largest underground mine, and fourth largest in the world. Cadia East will extend the life of Newcrest’s Cadia Valley operations by more than 30 years.
The Orange economy does not rely on mining alone for its prosperity. Orange is home to the head office of the New South Wales Government’s Department of Infrastructure and Investment, hosts a campus of Charles Sturt University and is a significant regional medical referral centre with an extraordinarily high number of both general practitioner and specialist doctors.
The showpiece of Orange’s Health Services sector is the recently completed new Orange Base Hospital. At a cost of over $250 million, the new Base Hospital provides state of the art medical services not available in most regional areas. In addition to the Base Hospital, Ramsey Health Care operates a private hospital in Orange, and Bloomfield Psychiatric Hospital is one of New South Wales’ key mental health care facilities providing services to a catchment area extending across New South Wales and including parts of Western Sydney.
It has been reported that Orange provides health services to a catchment population of some 300,000 people.
Orange has a well-rounded regional economy with economic diversity providing excellent services, amenities and employment opportunities in a highly desirable environment in which to invest or live.
A comprehensive Orange Economic Profile is available from Benchmark Commercial upon request.