Out the back of Bourke

I can finally say that I’ve literally “been out the back of Bourke”. This classic Australian colloquialism typically refers to extremely remote locations. The term is very apt. I can testify that getting to Bourke is quite a journey. It took four days driving from Port Macquarie for Garry and I to finally reach this far-flung town.

 

I booked us into the Bourke Bridge Inn, a boutique hotel offering some smartly appointed semi-detached rooms in North Bourke. The nearby namesake bridge is the only crossing on the Darling River for more than 100km. The hotel sits on the edge of North Bourke overlooking the river and its original trestle-clad lift bridge that’s no longer in use.

 

Bourke proved a real highlight of our inland road trip. The town has a surprising number of tourist attractions including the impressive Back O' Bourke Information & Exhibition Centre. The centre houses a series of exhibits that bring to life the Outback and its history. We spent a couple of hours here discovering stories of early exploration, bush poets, local bush rangers, the grazing industry, outback legends, and conflicts.

We also went cruising the Darling River on the PV Jandra Paddleboat. The boat conveniently departed from a wharf upstream from our hotel. As a result, we got to see our hotel glide by while experiencing the historic lift bridge from a skipper’s vantage point. Cruising through the outback with a cold drink to hand was an incredibly relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

In its heyday, Bourke was a thriving inland port handling wool bound for world markets via the Darling River. At one time it was the world’s largest inland port. Three wharves originally stood where a current replica now stands. We spent a leisurely afternoon exploring this impressive multiple-level wooden structure and the neighbouring river park.

In a shed on the edge of the park, we came across a restored Crossley Engine on display and were lucky enough to see it in operation. This an excellent example of an early water-cooled four-stroke diesel-type engine that superseded the steam era. This particular engine was initially used from 1923 to 1938 in the Sydney Power House to generate electricity for Australia’s largest city.

However, this wasn’t the most extraordinary historical sight of significance we visited. On our way into Bourke, we stopped in Brewarrina to look at its Aboriginal fish traps. Known locally as Baiame’s Ngunnhu, these traps were built by the Ngemba people alongside neighbouring nations like the Weilwan. This extraordinary system consists of river stones arranged to form intricate channels along a 500-metre tiered section of the Barwon River.

The structure’s dry-stone walls strategically direct migrating fish into 12 distinct, teardrop-shaped holding pools, allowing them to be harvested sustainably without depleting local populations. According to Australian scientist Corey Tutt, the entire structure operates on a sophisticated, deeply embedded understanding of river hydraulics, fish behaviour, seasonal water flows, and long-term resource management.

The age of the fish traps is currently unknown. However, a growing number of scientists historians speculate that they may be the oldest human construction in the world. Some claim that the traps are at least 40,000 years old and thus the oldest surviving human-made structure in the world.