Address & Contact
23-25 Richard St
Bourke NSW 2840
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Bourke is not merely a town but a region that is the figurative demarcation between Outback Australia and the east as anything to its west is referred to the ‘Back o Bourke’. This is a colloquial term etched deep in Australian language meaning to be a long way away from anything. On the contrary, it may be far away from 'civilisation' but the further out you go, the closer you get to the essence of this land. Maybe that is what Lawson was alluding to.
By the 1890's, Bourke was a major port for the transport of the southern Queensland and northern NSW wool clip that was transported down the Darling to the
Murray River and onto
Adelaide for ship transport overseas.
The Port of Bourke was the focus of the world’s wool industry with up to 80 riverboats servicing the region.
The opening of the rail system in Australia and the unreliability of the river flow saw the gradual demise of the 'River Highway' by the early 20th century.
This by no means spelled the end of Bourke and today it is a town that still, in essence, is the same it was back then; a town on the edge of the wilderness with great historical, cultural and geographic significance.
"if you know Bourke, you know Australia" so wrote the famous Australian poet Henry Lawson in 1882.
Text courtesy of
Outback NSW TourismBourke can add to its claim to fame when it experiences 4 minutes of totality during the solar eclipse on July 22nd 2028. One could even take an eclipse cruise on the river. See place 481146 for more details.