"If you know Bourke you know Australia"....Henry Lawson   

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Bourke Visitor Information Centre
Kidman Way
Bourke NSW 2840
Ph: 0268 721321
Fax: 0268 721395
PO Box 21
Bourke NSW 2840

v.2 24th March 2011

Featured Articles

Fishing

Fishing

14 Feb, 11
  The Darling River runs 1472 Km fro ...

Fishing

 

The Darling River runs 1472 Km from the north of New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River on the Victorian Border. Yellow Belly and Murray Cod can be found the length of the Darling River and are much sort after. Around Bourke there are a number of fishing spots to relax a while and try your luck. In particular try May's Bend and the Fishing Reserve just downstream of the town weir.

Remember that bag limits exist for both Cod and Yellow Belly.

The larges Cod ever to have ben caught is said to have weighed in at 113Kg and have measured 1800mm!

The 1890 flood

The 1890 flood

1 Feb, 11
From “The C
...

The 1890 flood

From “The Central Australian and Bourke Telegraph” Friday 18/4/1890 By H.K. Bloxham, Editor) short extract from Histories of Bourke

VOLUNTEERS

“We are highly pleased to see both young and old blood of Bourke, using the long handled shovels for the preservation of the town. All are brothers in this time of distress, priests, bank officials, our worthy return officer Mr Macalister, publicans and sinners, even John Chinaman, all are working shoulder to shoulder to save Bourke. The picture struck, as each shovel full of earth surmounts the other, for so commendable an object makes one inwardly whisper to ones better self, that after all, the “Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man” at least prevails in Bourke in her hour of approaching calamity.”

THE RAILWAY EMBANKMENT

“A party consisting of Mr Foxlee (Engineer), Alderman McFarlane, Mr Pratt (S.M.H.), and others, went to the trucking yards to inspect the railway line in order to judge whether the capacity of the culverts was sufficient to carry off the flood waters. Eight culverts were inspected varying from 400 feet down to 20 feet. The depth of the water was tested and averaged about 3 feet 6 inches on the level plain. From the level of the wooden girders, there was still an average space from 12 to 14 inches and about 3 feet to the top of the rails. Yesterday morning it was found that the water along the eastern embankment (levee) where the latter runs into the railway line had risen 4 to 5 inches, and after serious consideration Mr Foxlee (Engineer) decided to cut the railway embankment, which was done in five places yesterday. Levels taken show that the level of the water above the town is 8 inches higher than that below the town, and therefore when the railway embankment is cut, the relief to the eastern embankment (levee) should be considerable. The cuttings made extend from where the eastern embankment joins the railway line and extend out from thence a quarter of a mile at equal distances. All passengers and mails will have to disembark from the train 3 miles from Bourke and thence journey by boat. Volunteer crews have been enrolled. All are working with a will, and are hopeful of conquering.

Lawson in Bourke

Lawson in Bourke

1 Feb, 11
Henry Lawson
...

Lawson in Bourke

Henry Lawson came to Bourke in October or November of 1892, and worked both in town and district until the autumn or early winter of 1893. This outback trip was to provide him with much material for both poetry and prose, principally in “While the Billy Boils” and “Send Around the Hat” Although he gained a fund of human material and experience – and this was his purpose in making the trip – his Bourke experience did not start him on his course in literature: in depicting the bush and its inhabitants in realistic style. He had already published in the “Bulletin”, the Brisbane “Boomerang”, and the “Australian Workman”. J. F. Archibald, the “Bulletin’s”. the Brisbane “Boomerang” thought him promising enough to pay his fare to Bourke and advance him £ 5 as well.

Through his mother and his literary friends, he was also known to some extent in the Socialist and Union circles in Sydney, and also in Bourke where Union activity was at a peak and where the “Bulletin” was widely read. He lived in several houses in Bourke; one was perhaps in Mitchell Street. Another, more certainly was in “a small house over the billabong on the western side of Bourke”. Lawson also sheltered in a skillion at the back of the office of the Labourers’ Union, and of course at the “Carrier’s Arms” and, in the hot weather, in the Park.

The Bourke of his day had a population of about 1500, swollen from time to time by shearers for whom Bourke served as a centre. He refers to it several times as “the metropolis of the Great Scrubs”, where, in “just a little camping town in a big land, free, good hearted democratic Australians, and the best of black sheep from the Old World were constantly passing through where husbands were often obliged to be away from home for twelve months, and the storekeepers had to trust the people, and mates trusted each other, and the folks were broad-minded”. And again; “There was no poverty in Bourke – as it is understood in the city. 

There was plenty of food; and camping out and roughing it came natural to the bushman. In cases of sickness, accident, widow or orphans, the chaps sent around the hat, without banging a drum or testifying”.   

In the story “Lord Douglas” he again implies Bourke’s relative prosperity when Mr. Douglas fails in her attempt as a dressmaker – “dressmaking didn’t pay so well in the bush then as it did in the old digging days when sewing-machines were scarce’, but she succeeds in living from the proceeds of a ‘little fancy goods shop’ started in the £25 the Union contributes in a ‘sending-around-of-the-hat’.  
  
Darling River Flag

Darling River Fl...

1 Feb, 11
Before Federation
...

Darling River Flag

Before Federation the Australian colonies flew the United Kingdom’s Union Jack, however in the 1850s our sense of national pride emerged. Varied unofficial flags often featuring the Southern Cross constellation were designed and flown.

There was the National Colonial flag in 1823, the Anti-Transportation League flag in 1852, the Murray-River flag in 1853, the next year, 1854 the Eureka flag and the Australian Federation flag from the 1880s to the 1890s. 

The Murray River flag first appeared at Goolwa to honour the first Paddle steamer on the Murray River, the Mary Ann, on the barge Eureka. It is the only flag in the world named in honour of a river.

The flag was described by a reporter of the Australian Register as "the flag bears a red cross with four horizontal blue bars. The Cross being charged with five stars as emblems of the colonies while the upper corner, is taken up with British connections which is depicted by the Union Jack. It has been named, we understand the Murray River flag and it has been said that the blue bars represent the four major rivers that run into the Murray river, the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan and the Darling."  The Lower Murray Flag, used predominantly in South Australia, is distinguished by the use of pale blue bands representing the lighter coloured water of the lower reaches of the Murray.

The Upper Murray Flag has darker blue bands on its flag, representing the darker waters of the river’s upper reaches.  

This design was also the house flag of the Murray River Steam Navigation Co. which suggests that it is a lineal descendant of the original flag design. No specimen or fragment of the original Murray River Flag is known to exist 

(extract from www.murrayriver.com.au)

Heat Wave of 1896

Heat Wave of 189...

10 Jul, 10
  In 1896 there was a severe “Heat ...

Heat Wave of 1896

 

In 1896 there was a severe “Heat Wave” which lasted from 12th January to 21st January when the temperature varied from 114 – 119.5°F.   During this period 41 people died of Heat Exhaustion.  The Government even issued cheap excursion fares so that the local residents would be able to escape from the excessive heat.  Nowdays there is an ample water supply from the Darling River for the township of Bourke, and there were no water shortages in the town even during this last drought.  Well watered lawns and trees help to keep the temperatures down in the town.  Air conditioners and Refrigeration are a wonderful boon to people in the West and are necessity, not a luxury.

(from the “Bourke Banner” and “Central Australian & Bourke Telegraph” Files, Library of N.S.W,)

Crossley engine

Crossley engine

29 Jan, 11
  Located at the Wharf area at ...

Crossley engine

 

Located at the Wharf area at the northern end of Sturt Street Bourke, is a fully restored 1923 vintage Crossley oil fuelled stationary engine. This engine, manufactured by Crossley Brothers of Manchester England, is a fine example of an early four stroke diesel type engine, which followed on from the steam engine era.

Large engines such as this one, were used in many applications such as electricity generation, water pumping and factory machine operation.

Over the years more than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built and it is a testament to their quality, that many of these are still in use to this day.

This particular engine was originally used from 1923 to 1938 in the Sydney Power House to generate electricity for Sydney. It was later used in the Allowrie Butter Factory at Coffs Harbour from 1938 to 1949, and then at a Narromine property from 1949 to 1964 to pump water for crop irrigation.

This type of engine will run on any heavy or viscous type oil and has the capacity of 124BHP at 260RPM, weighs 16 tonne and is water cooled and is started by compressed air.

The engine was donated by Bob Crawford and family from Narromine in 2001 and was fully restored to working condition by Don Burns and Bourke Shire Council in 2002.

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