Address & Contact Edit
Bourke Wilcannia Rd
Louth NSW 2840
Phone: N/A
Email: N/A
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Louth is a small service town (Pub, fuel and
general store) on the
Darling River about 100km downstream from
Bourke and 100km upstream from
Tilpa.
Normally a quiet and sleepy settlement, once a year it is the scene for an classic annual country race meeting in August each Year and attracts travellers form far and wide to the 7 race event.
The town of Louth was created when T.A Mathews established a Hotel to service the river trade and the Cobb & Co coaches that used it as a stop over.
Nearby, the historic
Dunlop station was the first sheep station in the world to use mechanical shears
Louth is ideally located for access to the
Darling River Run and affords a choice of eastern or western route along the
Darling River downstream to
Tilpa as
well as the upstream section to
Bourke and beyond 'Back o
Bourke'.
Louth also is the site of an amazing and emotive structure known as ‘The Celtic Cross’, a polished
granite 24 feet high cross that dominates the
cemetery on the
hill overlooking the town.
The cross was erected by the founder of Louth, Thomas Matthews, who had
the monument built as a perpetual memorial to wife, Mary Mathews, who died in 1866.
The cross would be significant anywhere and is even more so here. Every year on the anniversary of her death on August 19, it reflects the setting sunlight to the space where the front door of their house was located.
The monument is no only testament to the love and devotion of a husband for his wife but also the accuracy of navigation technology of the 1860’s as its alignment was reportedly aided by one of the river boat captains of the
Darling River.
Anyone visiting Louth can observe the occurrence and the locals have thoughtfully marked the
places throughout the year that the visitor can experience the 3 minute lightshow.
'a place that loved a drink, a party and a punt..' So wrote Henry Lawson about Louth.
Text courtesy of
Outback NSW Tourism