Bourke

Fast facts

• Historic town on the Darling River known as the gateway to the Outback
• 770 km north west of Sydney
  

Why go there

The expression ‘Back of Bourke’ is written in Australian folklore as being where the Outback starts and farming land ends. But if you expect Bourke to be a red-dirt outpost in the dust then think again. The town is neat and pretty, with beautiful buildings dating from the 1800s, and monuments like Poets Corner, which honours Henry Lawson, Will Ogilvy and Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant.

Bourke is also an agricultural hub, surrounded by cotton fields, citrus orchards, grape vines, and the largest jojoba plantation in the southern hemisphere. Jojoba, by the way, is a tough native of North America used by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

One of the best ways to explore the local area is on the paddleboat PV Jandra. As you move quietly up the majestic Darling River you can contemplate the old days, when wool and other produce were ferried between the railhead at Bourke and the Murray-Darling junction at Wentworth.

Experience the real ‘Back of Bourke’, on a three-hour Mateship Country bus tour. It visits high-tech orchards and vineyards, jojoba bean plantations, cotton farms, and irrigation pump sites.

Don’t miss

• Bird watching for emus, pelicans, wedge tailed eagles, brolgas, galahs, budgerigars and white and black cockatoos
• A beer at the Back of Bourke Pub, a typically eccentric bush pub just outside town
• Canoeing, fishing, yabbying, bushwalking and a camel camping safari at Comaroo Camel Station
• A visit to the Back’O Bourke Exhibition Centre