The New South Wales Central West has been hit by a large earthquake that has been felt several hundred kilometres across the state.
The magnitude-4.5 quake was recorded south of Orange, east of the Cadia gold mine, at about 8:19pm AEST on Tuesday.
More than 1,700 ‘felt’ reports have been made to Geoscience Australia, spanning from Forbes to Sydney and as far south as Batemans Bay.
Houses in Orange, about 35 kilometres north of the epicentre, were shaking for approximately 30 seconds.
The Mayor of the Blayney Shire, Bruce Reynolds, lives 12km from the epicentre and said the earthquake was the biggest he had felt in the area.
“The house shook violently … the rumble felt as though a truck had hit the house,” Mr Reynolds said.
“My wife was scared and got my daughter outside,” he said.
The previous record earthquake felt in Orange was in 2017.
The magnitude-4.3 shock caused the precautionary evacuation of Cadia.
Mr Reynolds said he experienced the quake nine years ago and said Tuesday night’s one was much worse.
“It’s been widely felt across the region and out to the east coast,” he said.
“A lot of houses shook quite violently and my thoughts go out to any miners that were underground at the gold mine when the earthquake struck.”
In a statement a Newmont Cadia spokesperson said it was “committed to safe and responsible mining”.
“Our sensors detected seismic activity in the region at approximately 8.20pm and safety procedures functioned effectively to ensure the safety of our workforce,” the statement said.
Geoscience Australia seismologist Phil Cummins said he would expect aftershocks to occur.
“Normally aftershocks would decrease in magnitude and frequency as time goes by,” he said.