Back o’ Bourke

THE FARTHEST west you could travel by

NSW Railways in the days when steam was king, Bourke became synonymous with what was seen as Australia’s vast emptiness. Australia’s poets once revelled in synonyms for the “great unknown”, the country “Back o’ Bourke”, where “the pelican builds her nest” – the “dead heart” out where “the dead men lie”.This was the country where explorer Charles Sturt’s European bias had him believe an inland sea must lie.