Bourke is a town located seven hundred and eighty-nine kilometers northwest of Sydney. It has a population of four thousand people, fifty percent of who are indigenous and is named after New South Wales Governor Sir Richard Bourke. Bourke is situated on the Darling River 110 meters above sea level. The town has been thought to be the world's largest wool railhead. The town also retains numerous significant colonial buildings dating from the late 19th century.

Bourke's main source of income:

Bourke has many sources of income. In Bourke, the town produces citrus fruits, alfalfa, cotton and wool and has an abattoir and freezing works. The countryside around Bourke is mainly used for sheep farming with some irrigated fruit and cotton crops near the river.

The Darling River is used by the town for mostly transportation. Paddle steamers work on the river carrying wool and copper south and all the basic supplies north. By 1878, Bourke became a municipality. The town was an active trading post with a courthouse, which was built in 1899 by the architect, Walter Vernon, a bank, a post office, which was built in 1879, two hotels also built in 1879, coaches, camel-trains, wagons and barges.

When was Bourke first settled?

Europeans first settled Bourke. The area settled by European immigrants was a well-used Aboriginal hunting ground. Because of this, resistance was caused in the early years of settlement. Captain Arthur Phillip raised his flag when he first arrived in New South Wales on the 26 January 1788.

The aboriginal population of New South Wales was considerable at the time of the arrival of the First Fleet. Captain Arthur Phillip tried to cultivate and protect the aboriginal people but the European immigrants brought with them diseases such as smallpox, which quickly spread, into other surrounding areas, thus killing aboriginal people by the thousands.

When did Europeans discover Bourke?

Europeans discovered the town of Bourke in the year 1829, which was originally called Prattenville. When the Europeans arrived, they had brought with them many different animals and convicts. These animals included rabbits, rats, ferrets and crickets.

The Europeans had thought that rabbits would make ideal pets in Australia, but the rabbits soon broke their collars and escaped into the wild. An Englishman decided that the answer was to import London rats so that they would eat the rabbits. Therefore, a shipload of rabbits was sent for and in no time at all, they had arrived. When they arrived, the rabbits had mated with the rats and a new species had been introduced. When aboriginals saw the animal it had, huge hind legs shaped like boomerangs so they called it a kangaroo.

What has changed to the Darling River at Bourke?

The Darling River has changed in many different ways, mainly due to the droughts in Australia. In 1833, a bridge was built across the Darling River and very soon the trade had increased and the towns became a major port with high-leveled wharves, steam cranes and Australia's one and only lock. The lock was designed to maintain the level of water in the town. The lock was nearly 60 meters long and 11 meters wide and so far, it is still the only one built on the Darling River. In 1941, it was concreted and converted into a weir.

Why did people settle in the town Bourke?

People had many different reasons for settling in the town of Bourke. Some had come for the gold rush while some had for their own reasons. One of the main reasons was because of World War II, which lasted for six years from 1939 until 1945. The only reason they came to Australia was that people were very poor so people came to look for jobs. World War II was a European conflict between Germany Anglo-French-Polish coalition but eventually it included most of the nations of the world.

Who were the original inhabitants of the area of Bourke?

The original inhabitants that lived in the area of Bourke were an indigenous group of people called the Ngemba People. The Ngemba people had lived on the Darling River for many years. Their main source of food was fish. The reason for this is that the Murray River had a less reliable water source than the Darling River so the use of fishing equipment was more elaborate. Many aboriginal people had been kicked out of their territory because of European settlement. Even though the aboriginal people were not a threat to them, the Europeans had thought they were a threat.