Bourke

Bourke is a town in Northwestern New South Wales, about 140 km south of the Queensland border. It has a population of 1,699 (2021). This article also covers North Bourke, a smaller settlement a few kilometres to the north.

Understand

Back of Bourke is Australian slang for the middle of nowhere. If you head north west from Sydney you'll have no difficulty understanding the origins of the slang. However, Bourke is a service town for a large surrounding area.

Historically, Bourke is another remnant of the grand vision the Australian European pioneers had for opening up the inland of Australia. Bourke was even (briefly) an inland port on the Murray Darling, as steamer companies set up business along the Murray, shipping agricultural produce down to Adelaide. The steamer companies soon lost money because of snags, water levels, and the general lack of suitability of the Darling as an inland waterway for shipping. You can still see the wharf in Bourke.

Visitors Information Centre

• 1 Back O' Burke Information Centre and Exhibition Centre, Mooculta Street (Mitchell Highway northbound) (left hand side coming from the centre of town), ☏ +61 2 6872 1321, info@backobourke.com.au. Winter: M-Su 9AM-5PM. 

Get in

Airlink fly to Bourke from Dubbo. Flights to Dubbo are available from Sydney and some other regional locations.

NSW TrainLink have a daily train service to Dubbo from Sydney connecting with a bus service to Bourke. The trip will take a full day's travel.

Get around

You can hire a car in Bourke, but none of the majors operate here.

By bike

You can cycle from one end of the town to the other in less than 20 minutes.

See

Bourke is situated on the Darling River.

• Back O Bourke Exhibition Centre. Tourist info and Exhibition on the banks of the Darling. 
• 1 Back O' Bourke Gallery, 26 Darling St, North Bourke, ☏ +61 2 6872 4674. M–Sa 10:30AM–4PM (closed Sundays). A small art gallery established in 2006 with a lot of Outback-inspired pastel artworks, particularly of the Darling River. (updated Jun 2022)
• 2 Crossley Engine, 15 Mitchell St. One of the earliest oil-fuelled stationary engines that have ever been built. It was originally used for the Sydney Power House in the 1930s, but later generated electricity for Coffs Harbour's Allowrie Butter Factory in the 1940s. After 1949, the engine was moved to a property in Narromine, a town 40 km west of Dubbo and now has been brought to Bourke. (updated Jun 2022)
• 3 Gundabooka National Park. See some excellent preserve Indigenous petroglyphs in this national park. It's about 30 minutes south-southwest along the B87 Kidman Way which is sealed, but all of the park's roads are poorly maintained dirt roads. (updated Jun 2022)
• 4 Old Bourke Wharf, Sturt St. It used to be the largest port along the Darling River when it was built in the 1850s, but what you see today is only a replica of the original 1850s-built wharf. Today, as the Darling dries up, this replica only remains a museum piece. (updated Jun 2022)

Eat

• 1 Morrall's Bakery, 37 Mitchell St, ☏ +61 2 6872 2086. (updated Sep 2021)

Sleep

• 1 Darling River Motel, 74 Mitchell St, ☏ +61 2 6872 2288. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 10AM. (updated Jul 2021)
• 2 Major Mitchell Motel, 44 Mertin St, ☏ +61 2 6872 2311. Check-in: 2PM, check-out: 10AM. (updated Jul 2021)

Go next

• Hungerford and Currawinya National Park.
• Brewarrina is only a few minutes east, home to the world's oldest human construction.

Routes via Bourke

Charleville ← Cunnamulla ← Queensland border, continues as A71 ←	N B71 SE	→ Nyngan
END ←	N B76 S	→ Cobar → Griffith
END ←	W B87 E	→ Brewarrina → Moree