Bourke NSW
Bourke in NSW is located on the Darling River, 110 metres above sea level. Situated on the edge of the desert, it services the surrounding large pastoral properties.
Bourke is a relatively prosperous town due to tourism and people passing through on their way to or from Queensland. In recent times the impressive Back o’ Bourke Exhibition Centre has drawn visitors eager to learn about outback Australia.
The town was once an important port on the Darling River. Wool came from all across western New South Wales and south-western Queensland. It was transported by bullock wagons and shipped down the river to South Australia. Consequently it has an impressive Court House, a number of impressive public buildings, and a solidity which is the result of its early prosperity.
A visitor can spend two or three days exploring the town and surrounding countryside. And “once you’ve crossed the North Bourke bridge” as the song goes “And stood on the dust of an ancient red ridge, the locals know the outback calls you back”. As Henry Lawson wrote: “If you know Bourke, then you know Australia.”
The History of Bourke NSW
The town originated with a stockade, Fort Bourke, built in 1835 by Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell as defense against Aborigines. The fort is named after Governor Sir Richard Bourke. The town, surveyed in 1862 and made a municipality in 1878, was a busy port in the 1880s and 1890s. It was incorporated into Darling Shire in 1955, and is now part of Bourke Shire.
Bourke is located along the Mitchell Highway, with air and rail links to Sydney. It serves a large section of outback (inland rural areas) that supports sheep raising and irrigated citrus fruit.
An important wool-shipping point, the town has meatworks and a wool-scouring plant. Fort Bourke is preserved by the Royal Australian Historical Society.
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Bourke NSW, Australia
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