Bourke, N.S.W.

.The next “place to see that we’ve never seen before” was Bourke, in northern-central N.S.W. Although not on the way to Sydney where we have an appointment with Mike and Denise on Saturday week, Bourke is only a couple of hours off the Mitchell Highway, so we took the opportunity.

While driving along these flat, straight but very good bitumen roads, the scenery was unchanging and so very Australian. Having been around this world a couple of times or maybe more, we are definitely at home among the gumtrees. It’s the Australian eucalypt that makes our bush so unique. As it grows, its typical shape is all but symmetrical as branches seem to defy any kind of organised pattern. The leaves at the extremities glisten in the harsh sunshine, swaying around in the invisible breeze as if greeting us with a friendly wave. On the ground is the fallout from the tree’s inherent untidiness, as large flabs of bark and discarded branches lay at the tree’s feet, looking so tinder dry that it may spontaneously combust in the sun. Sometimes a torrential downpour has washed away the topsoil to expose the tree’s roots, a mass of twisted sinuous tentacles like something from “the Alien”, extending outwards beyond the tree line. We see kangaroo, emu, goat, eagles, hawks, goanna, lizard. We love the Aussie bush.

 

Driving through the Australian bush.

Bourke is a fascinating place. Unlike Broken Hill, or Cobar where we stayed on the way, this is not a mining town. The lifeblood of Bourke is the mighty Darling River. Although early European explorers couldn’t envisage any form of settlement out here, Bourke came about in the early 1800s as an important stop on the Darling River in the days when the rivers where the economic highways. Paddle steamers and barges plied the waterways carrying wool and commerce. It’s hard to imagine that this is the same river that we saw merge with the Murray River near Mildura a thousand kilometres away.  It’s also hard to imagine that the Murray/Darling/Murrumbidgee system drains a seventh of the Australian continent from as far north as Far North Queensland. It therefore doesn’t have to rain locally for the river level to rise.
 

The mighty Darling River.

The Darling’s water was brown and murky, but out here in these parched lands I doubt if anyone would complain. We sailed a short portion of the river in a paddleboat, and the birdlife was extraordinary. We then went through the “Back o’ Bourke” Exhibition Centre that told the story of the area in some very clever displays. Highly recommended, and air-conditioned too. We then paid our respects to Fred Hollows who is buried at the Bourke Cemetery. Even though he was a Kiwi, he did much of his remarkable eye surgery work on indigenous locals around Bourke and reportedly loved the area.
 

RIP Professor Fred Hollows.

We visited the studios of CUZ FM, a local Indigenous community radio station. It was very pleasing to hear that they broadcast programs in the several cultural languages from around the area. Even some announcers have studied recordings of their ancestors speaking to be able to pass on the learning to their listeners. They recognise the importance of their role in not letting these ancient languages disappear, and is a great example of community radio at work.