Australian Towns & Cities
Incorporating photos and information from Michael Greenslade's former Australian Towns, Cities and Highways site
New South Wales
Bourke
Located on the Darling River in northwestern NSW, Bourke is considered one of the gateway towns to the Australian outback.
The area where the town is situated is the traditional country of the Ngemba people. The town is named after Fort Bourke, a stockade established by European settlers in the mid-1800s. The stockade was named after the then NSW Governor Sir Richard Bourke. Once pastoralists settled in the area, paddlesteamers operated along the Darling River transporting their produce as well as people to and from the region. The town became a busy port with paddle steamers shipping large quantities of stock and wool to railheads and other ports. Towards the end of the 19th century, Bourke was connected by better roads and also rail to the rest of the state.
The town is filled with historical buildings as well as plenty of places to see and things to do, including the North Bourke Bridge, Australia's oldest movable span bridge. This bridge is one of the most historic bridges in New South Wales. It is one of two surviving lift span bridges in the state. Nearby Mount Oxley offers stunning views across the area and is home to abundant wildlife, including wedge-tail eagles and wallabies. 1
- Population:
- 1699 1
- Postcode:
- 2840
- Location:
- 651 km northwest of Sydney
- Main Roads:
- Mitchell Hwy (B71), Kamilaroi Hwy (B76) and Kidman Way (B87)
- Radio Stations:
- FM:
- 2CUZ (106.5 MHz), ABC Radio National (101.1 MHz), Breeze FM (107.3 MHz), Faith FM (87.6 MHz), Flow FM (102.5 MHz), SBS Radio (98.5 MHz and 100.1 MHz), Sky Racing Radio (96.1 MHz and 100.5 MHz), Triple J (99.3 MHz) and Vision Christian Radio (94.5 MHz)
- AM:
- 2WEB (585 kHz), ABC Central West (549 kHz) and ABC Western Plains (657 kHz)
NEW Bourke North Base Survey Beacon:
Looking south on Mitchell Hwy, south of Bourke, 2003.
Image © Jamie Scuglia
NEW Oxley Street:
Oxley St in the Bourke town centre, 2003.
Image © Jamie Scuglia
NEW Oxley Street:
Oxley St in the Bourke town centre, 2003.
Image © Jamie Scuglia
NEW North Bourke Bridge:
The former Mitchell Hwy alignment over the Darling River, North Bourke, 2003. The bridge was bypassed by a new structure in 1997 after 114 years of service.
Image © Jamie Scuglia
2 Australian Government, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census Data, 2021, Bourke, Census All persons QuickStats, Suburbs and Localities, SAL10520.