BOURKE is mainly known for its very remoteness, and this alone is enough to attract tourists; once you've crossed the North Bourke Bridge that spans the Darling River , you're officially "out back". If you want to have a drink in the "Back O' Bourke" without pressing too far into the endless, scarcely populated plains all around, try the North Bourke Hotel , a shabby, wooden, green-tin-roofed Outback pub where bush poets congregate once a year during the annual Mateship Festival weekend normally held in late September (details from the information centre). The lively festival began in 1993 to mark the centenary of the poet Henry Lawson 's stay in Bourke during a particularly harsh drought. Discovering mateship in hardship was but a microcosm for the fierce nationalism that arose in 1890s depression and drought-struck Australia. Work was scarce and Lawson often slept out in the town's Central Park, where a plaque is dedicated to him and to two other bush poets who lived in the area at around the same time - Will Ogilvie and Breaker Morant , the latter executed during the Boer War. Another famous resident was the well-known ophthalmologist Fred Hollows , who began working here in the 1970s with local Aborigines suffering from cataract blindness. As a result of his work the number of cases of incurable blindness among Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia has been halved. Hollows was buried in the town in 1993.

Bourke was a bustling river port from the 1860s to the 1930s, and there are some fine examples of riverboat-era architecture, including the huge reconstructed wharf which can be explored - from here a track winds along the magnificent, tree-lined river. A new port with paddle-steamer cruises is promised, but has been "under development" for a number of years. Thanks to irrigation with Darling River water, crops as diverse as cotton, lucerne, citrus, grapes and sorghum are successfully grown here despite the 40°C summer heat, while Bourke is also the commercial centre for a vast sheep- and cattle-breeding area: to the north there are rich grazing lands across the Queensland border around Cunnamulla and Charleville.

With a population of three thousand (approximately twenty-five percent Aboriginal), Bourke acts as a base for regional services and welfare. Unfortunately, there is sporadic trouble involving alcoholism and aimless youngsters, and after dark the atmosphere can be somewhat disturbing. Visitors are best off drinking in the very pleasant Port o' Bourke Hotel , the Oxley Club or Bowling Club, and avoiding the Post Office Hotel. Up-to-date information for visitors can be found at the Council's website - www.backobourke.com .