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55-581: The story takes place in Bourke , and concerns the burial of an anonymous union labourer, who had drowned the previous day "while trying to swim some horses across a billabong of the Darling ." The narrator, possibly Lawson himself, examines the level of respect the Bushfolk have for the dead, supplementing the story with his trademark dry, sardonic humour. The story opens with the unnamed narrator and his party, boating on

110-746: A hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ), with very hot summers and relatively cool winters that are often mild by day. On 4 January 1903, Bourke recorded a maximum temperature of 49.7 °C (121.5 °F), making it tied for the highest temperature recorded anywhere in New South Wales with Menindee , which is located further to the south, and one of the highest maxima to have ever been recorded in Australia. Bourke has many schools for preschool children, primary and high school students. The Bourke–Walgett School of Distance Education allows children to be schooled at home, from preschool to year 12. Bourke can be reached by

165-645: A US-style justice reinvestment program called Maranguka was put in place to combat offending. By 2017, there had been a 38% reduction in significant juvenile charges in Bourke. However, by 2022 crime in Bourke had again increased which the founder of Maranguka attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic . In February 2022, ABC Radio 's national current affairs program The World Today detailed numerous allegations of local health workers being routinely abused, threatened and attacked by patients at Bourke Hospital. Such incidents led

220-523: A brass band playing " Hail the Conquering Hero ". A park and illustrated water tower now contribute to his memory. Bourke has a number of heritage-listed sites, including: In 2016, there were 1,824 people in Bourke. In Bourke today, there are 21 recognised indigenous language groups, including Ngemba , Barkindji , Wangkumara and Muruwari . Under the Köppen–Geiger classification, Bourke has

275-586: A busy river port, with paddle steamers shipping large quantities of stock and wool south to Echuca , from where the railway extension allowed further transportation to Melbourne . Road infrastructure improved with the opening on 4 May 1883 of the North Bourke Bridge, designed by J.H. Daniels and modified in 1895 and 1903 by E.M. de Burgh . Its construction was begun by David Baillie and completed by McCulloch and Company. The 1895 modifications led to improved designs for subsequent lift-span bridges. The bridge

330-583: A high salt content and declining water quality . Increased rainfall in its catchment in 2010 improved its flow, but the health of the river will depend on long-term management. The Division of Darling , Division of Riverina-Darling , Electoral district of Darling and Electoral district of Lachlan and Lower Darling were named after the river. Aboriginal peoples have lived along the Darling River for tens of thousands of years. The Barkindji people called it Baaka or Barka , "Barkindji" meaning "people of

385-464: A railway ticket from the Bulletin and went to Bourke. Painted, picked up in a shearing shed and swagged it for six months". The experience was to have a profound effect on the 25-year-old and his encounter with the harsh realities of bush life inspired much of his subsequent work. Lawson would later write "if you know Bourke you know Australia". In 1992 eight poems, written under a pseudonym and published in

440-476: A sense of detachment from everyone, especially the deceased union member. The story was adapted for the first part of the trilogy film Three in One produced by Cecil Holmes and released in 1957. The screenplay by Rex Rienits is called Joe Wilson's Mates . Support for unionism is depicted by an increasing number of town and farm folk falling in behind the hearse as it moves to the cemetery. Edmund Allison strongly plays

495-466: A series of lakes that were once connected to the Darling River by short creeks. The Menindee Lake Scheme has reduced the frequency of flooding in the Menindee Lakes. As a result, about 13,800 hectares of lignum and 8,700 hectares of Black box have been destroyed. Weirs and constant low flows have fragmented the river system and blocked fish passage. The Darling River runs south-south-west, leaving

550-511: A short break at Christmas. [REDACTED] Media related to Bourke, New South Wales at Wikimedia Commons 30°4′54″S 145°57′4″E  /  30.08167°S 145.95111°E  / -30.08167; 145.95111 Darling River The Darling River ( Paakantyi : Baaka or Barka ) is the third-longest river in Australia , measuring 1,472 kilometres (915 mi) from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with

605-410: A union loyalist who emerges as leader. Lawson also takes time, nearing the end of the sketch, to draw attention to his own avoidance of the usual stock conventions. In many of his weaker stories, Lawson himself falls back upon the stock emotive devices he quite obviously disdained when he wrote this particular sketch. It is this attitude towards the romanticisation of Bushlife that ultimately lead to

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660-586: A weir was constructed at Menindee to mitigate flows from the Darling River. The north of the Darling River is in the Southeast Australia temperate savanna ecoregion and the southwest of the Darling is part of the Murray Darling Depression ecoregion. Major settlements along the river include Brewarrina, Bourke , Louth , Tilpa , Wilcannia , Menindee , Pooncarie and Wentworth . Wentworth

715-426: Is a union member, however, little more is known about him. Though the "defunct" is of a different religion to the majority of the town, they, nonetheless, organise a respectful burial as "unionism is stronger than creed." "Drink, however, is stronger than unionism," and, by the time the hearse passes by the pub, "more than two-thirds of the funeral were unable to follow." The narrator and his party respectfully follow

770-528: Is approximately 800 kilometres (500 mi) north-west of the state capital, Sydney , on the south bank of the Darling River . it is also situated: The location of the current township of Bourke is on a bend in the Darling River on the traditional country of the Ngemba people . Archaeological sites indicate Aboriginal occupancy of the region dating back thousands of years. The first British explorer to explore

825-416: Is because water releases were made from the lakes when this simply shouldn't have happened. A worse fish kill occurred in 2023. Millions of dead bony bream, golden perch and silver perch, and Murray cod flowed down the river at Menindee . The cause was low oxygen levels and high temperatures. The whole Murray–Darling river system , one of the largest in the world, drains all of New South Wales west of

880-537: Is reflected in a traditional east coast Australian expression "back o' Bourke", from the poem by Scottish-Australian poet and bush balladeer Will H. Ogilvie . The Tourist Information Centre is located on the Mitchell Highway at The Back 'O Bourke Exhibition Centre. In 1892 a young writer Henry Lawson was sent to Bourke by the Bulletin editor J. F. Archibald to get a taste of outback life and to try to curb his heavy drinking. In Lawson's own words "I got £5 and

935-469: Is the dirge of the Darling River. He also wrote about the river in The Union Buries Its Dead and "Andy's Gone With Cattle". Other bush poets who have written about the river include Scots-Australian Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963) and Breaker Morant (1864–1902). The Australian band Midnight Oil wrote a song called "The Barka-Darling River" for their album Resist , drawing attention to

990-547: Is the oldest moveable-span bridge in Australia and is the sole survivor of its type in New South Wales. It served for 114 years before being bypassed in 1997 when a new bridge carrying the Mitchell Highway was opened just downstream. By 1885 Bourke was made accessible by rail and reliance on the river trade to the south was quickly replaced by the more direct rail access to Sydney . Like many outback Australian townships, Bourke also utilised camels for overland transport, and

1045-510: The Bulletin Debate , during which the two popular poets, Lawson and Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson engaged in verse controversy by publishing numerous poems in the weekly Bulletin in 1892-93. In 1902 Lawson wrote: '"The Union Buries Its Dead" is simply an unornimented (sic) description of a funeral I took part in Bourk (sic) N.S.W.- it is true in every detail- even to the paragraph re

1100-404: The Darling River , coming across a young man on horseback driving some horses along the bank. The young man asks if the water is too deep to cross, to which a joker in the party replies that it is deep enough to drown him. The young man continues up the river. The following day, a funeral gathers at a corner pub, the deceased being the young horsemen encountered the previous day. The anonymous man

1155-642: The Far West region of New South Wales, to join the Murray River on the New South Wales – Victoria border at Wentworth, New South Wales . The Barrier Highway at Wilcannia, the Silver City Highway at Wentworth and the Broken Hill railway line at Menindee, all cross the Darling River. Part of the river north of Menindee marks the border of Kinchega National Park . In response to the 1956 Murray River flood ,

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1210-481: The Great Dividing Range , much of northern Victoria and southern Queensland and parts of South Australia . Its meandering course is three times longer than the direct distance it traverses. Much of the land that the Darling flows through are plains and is therefore relatively flat, having an average gradient of just 16 mm per kilometre. Officially the Darling begins between Brewarrina and Bourke at

1265-965: The Macintyre River and its tributaries such as the Dumaresq River and the Severn Rivers (there are two – one on either side of the state border); the Gwydir River ; the Namoi River ; the Castlereagh River ; and the Macquarie River . Other rivers join the Darling near Bourke or below – the Bogan River , the Warrego River and Paroo River . South east of Broken Hill , the Menindee Lakes are

1320-674: The Mitchell Highway from both the north from Charleville and Cunnamulla and from the southeast from Nyngan . Brewarrina and Walgett are located on the Kamilaroi Highway that has its western terminus in Bourke. Moree and Goondiwindi , located on the Newell Highway , connect to Bourke via various roads. Cobar via the Kidman Way , is connected from the south. The town is also served by Bourke Airport and has NSW TrainLink bus service to other regional centres such as Dubbo . It

1375-465: The Murray River at Wentworth . Including its longest contiguous tributaries it is 2,844 km (1,767 mi) long, making it the longest river system in Australia. The Darling River is the outback 's most famous waterway. The Darling is in poor health , suffering from over-allocation of its waters to irrigation , pollution from pesticide runoff, and prolonged drought . During drought periods in 2019 it barely flowed at all. The river has

1430-524: The Tibooburra region. In 1962 in Perth , local high jumper Percy Hobson became the first person of Aboriginal descent to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal for Australia . The 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall Hobson jumped 13 in (33 cm) above his height to win the event with a Games record leap of 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m). Hobson was celebrated on his return to Bourke and greeted by

1485-519: The University of Sydney to suspend student nurse placements in Bourke. A lead organiser with the New South Wales Nurses and Midwives' Association said the violence against health workers in Bourke was emblematic of the issues facing such staff in remote areas. She claimed administration staff from the front office were being called on to check on patients in the aged care wing because there

1540-473: The Western Herald , were discovered in the Bourke library archives and confirmed to be Lawson's work. Bush poets Harry 'Breaker' Morant (1864–1902) and Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963) also spent time in the Bourke region and based much of their work on the experience. Eye surgeon Fred Hollows was buried in Bourke after his death in 1993. Fred Hollows had worked at Enngonia and around the Bourke area in

1595-763: The confluence of the Culgoa and Barwon rivers; streams whose tributaries rise in the ranges of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales west of the Great Dividing Range . These tributaries include the Balonne River (of which the Culgoa is one of three main branches) and its tributaries; the Condamine [which rises in the Main Range about 100 km inland from Pt. Danger, on the Queensland/New South Wales border],

1650-620: The Barka". The Queensland headwaters of the Darling (the area now known as the Darling Downs ) were gradually colonized from 1815 onward. In 1828 the explorers Charles Sturt and Hamilton Hume were sent by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Ralph Darling , to investigate the course of the Macquarie River . He visited the Bogan River and then, early in 1829, the upper Darling, which he named after

1705-578: The Federal government purchased Toorale Station in northern New South Wales for $ 23 million. The purchase allowed the government to return eleven gigalitres (2.4 × 10 ^   imp gal ; 2.9 × 10 ^   US gal ) of environmental flows back into the Darling. In 2019, a crisis on the Lower Darling saw up to 1 million fish die. A report by the Australia Institute said this

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1760-511: The Fort Bourke cattle station and homestead in 1859. Dowling clashed with the resident Aboriginal population, receiving a spear through his hat and his horse being wounded by a boomerang . However, he was able to come to terms with the Indigenous people, who became a cheap source of labour for his run. The immediate area around Fort Bourke where Mitchell had originally built his little stockade

1815-576: The Governor. In 1835, Major Thomas Mitchell travelled a 483-kilometre (300 mi) portion of the Darling River. Although his party never reached the junction with the Murray River he correctly assumed the rivers joined. In 1856, the Blandowski Expedition set off for the junction of the Darling and Murray Rivers to discover and collect fish species for the National Museum. The expedition

1870-495: The South Australian railheads at Morgan and Murray Bridge . But over the past century the river's importance as a transportation route has declined. In 1992, the Darling River suffered from a severe cyanobacterial bloom that stretched the length of the river. The presence of phosphorus was essential for the toxic algae to flourish. Flow rates, turbulence, turbidity and temperature were other contributing factors. In 2008,

1925-684: The Upper Darling, with the arrival of paddle steamers making river transportation and trade to the southern settlements seasonally viable. The first paddle steamer to reach Fort Bourke was the Genesis in February 1859, skippered by Captain William Randell. The first British pastoralist to appropriate land around Fort Bourke was Edward J Spence in late 1858, but it was Vincent James Dowling with his head stockman, John E Kelly, who successfully established

1980-528: The area supported a large Afghan community that had been imported to drive the teams of camels. A small Afghan mosque that dates back to the 1900s can be found within Bourke cemetery. As trade moved away from river transport routes, Bourke's hold on the inland trade industry began to relax. Whilst no longer considered a trade centre, Bourke serves instead as a key service centre for the state's north western regions. In this semi-arid outback landscape, sheep farming along with some small irrigated cotton crops comprise

2035-413: The area. There are three community radio stations based in Bourke. 2WEB broadcasts with 10,000 watts on 585 AM. 2CUZ is the Indigenous radio station on 106.5 FM. Gold FM is the tourist info station on 88.0 FM. The first two stations broadcast to a myriad of communities in the region. The local paper, The Western Herald , is published on a weekly basis (every Thursday) year-round, except during

2090-448: The drowning of a man named Tyson having appeared in a Sydney Daily.' William Wood, writing from Paraguay in 1931, recalled knowing Lawson during his stay in Bourke: 'I was present, with other Union officials, at the funeral described by Henry in "The Union Buries Its Dead" and still remember many of the details so humorously described... The cemetery was a good step from town and many of

2145-621: The dwindling funeral procession, observing the conflict between the Bushfolks' respect for the dead, and their own personal comfort. The burial itself is sombre, yet emotionless. Nobody actually knew the deceased, and so it is impossible to feel sad for him. It is heard that the young man's name is James Tyson, though this is "simply the name he went by." The narrator does eventually hear the man's real name, but he has already forgotten it. "The Union Buries Its Dead" dedicates very few words to describing any one character in detail; this effectively creates

2200-522: The early 1970s and had asked to be buried there. The Telegraph Hotel, established in 1888 beside the Darling River , has been restored and now operates as the Riverside Motel. In 2008, persistently high levels of criminal offending in Bourke led to a ban of the takeaway sales of beer in glass bottles, fortified wine larger than 750 mL and cask wine larger than two litres with only 3.5% or less alcohol non-glass bottles being sold midday. In 2013,

2255-479: The issues. Spittal said a number of measures had already been established including a 24/7 security presence and improvements to infrastructure such as lighting with further measures expected to be put in place in the near future. The town is served by four FM and two AM radio stations, and five television channels. ABC radio broadcasts on both the FM and AM bands and is pivotal to maintaining rural and community ties in

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2310-533: The late 19th century, many continued to live a traditional lifestyle in the region. Others found employment on local stations working with stock and found their skill as trackers in high demand. A large influx of displaced Aboriginal peoples from other areas in the 1940s saw Bourke's indigenous community grow and led to the establishment of a reserve in 1946 by the Aborigines Protection Board. The majority of indigenous settlers were Wangkumara people from

2365-407: The local people Mitchell built a small stockade to protect his men and named it Fort Bourke after then Governor Sir Richard Bourke . British pastoral settlement failed to occur for many years in the vicinity due to the large distances from the colonised areas and the strong resistance from the local Aboriginal population. It wasn't until 1859 when British colonists were able to gain a foothold along

2420-546: The mourners developed a strong thirst long before the first pub was met on the way back.'. The text mentions the drowned Union Member's name as James Tyson, though this is "only the name he went by." James Tyson (1819–1898), a squatter, was reputed to be the wealthiest and meanest man in the whole continent. Bourke, New South Wales Bourke is a town in the north-west of New South Wales , Australia. The administrative centre and largest town in Bourke Shire , Bourke

2475-407: The oldest man-made structure on the planet. Australian poet Henry Lawson wrote a well-known ironic tribute to the Darling River. To quote another Henry Lawson poem: The skies are brass and the plains are bare, Death and ruin are everywhere; And all that is left of the last year's flood Is a sickly stream on the grey-black mud; The salt-springs bubble and the quagmires quiver, And this

2530-410: The primary industry in the area today. Bourke's traditional landholders endured a similar fate to Indigenous people across Australia. Dispossessed of their traditional country and in occasional conflict with white settlers, they battled a loss of land and culture and were hit hard by European disease. While the population of the local Ngemba and Barkindji people around the town of Bourke had dwindled by

2585-479: The ramifications for the hospital if the ongoing violence prompted health workers to refuse to come to Bourke. He said he was devastated by the level of violence in the town, which had shocked the community. In a statement, Western New South Wales Local Health District chief executive Mark Spittal said his organisation had a zero tolerance of threatening or criminal behaviour and was working with Bourke Shire Council, various agencies and community leaders to address

2640-468: The river was Charles Sturt in 1828 who named it after Sir Ralph Darling , Governor of New South Wales . Having struck the region during an intense drought and a low river, Sturt dismissed the area as largely uninhabitable and short of any features necessary for establishing reliable industry on the land. Further exploration of the area did not occur until 1835 when the colonial surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell conducted an expedition. Following tensions with

2695-424: Was Australia's busiest inland port in the late 1880s. Navigation by steamboat to Brewarrina was first achieved in 1859. Brewarrina was also the location of intertribal meetings for Indigenous Australians who speak Darling and live in the river basin. Ancient fish traps in the river provided food for feasts. These heritage listed rock formations have been estimated at more than 40,000 years old making them

2750-473: Was a success with 17,400 specimens arriving in Adelaide the next year. Although its flow is extraordinarily irregular (the river dried up forty-five times between 1885 and 1960), in the later 19th century the Darling became a major transportation route, the pastoralists of western New South Wales using it to send their wool by shallow-draft paddle steamer from busy river ports such as Bourke and Wilcannia to

2805-464: Was an insufficient number of nurses. She believed the patients at the hospital were being neglected due to a lack of staff with just two registered nurses responsible for the emergency department, an acute ward, an aged care wing and a COVID ward during a night shift. She feared a nurse could lose their life through the violence, or that a patient could die through the chronic staffing shortages. Bourke Shire mayor Barry Hollman expressed concern for

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2860-422: Was deemed too flood prone for a township, so an elevated site on the east bank of the river around 10km north of the fort was chosen for closer settlement. This site was called by the Indigenous people Whertiemurtie and by the colonists 18 Mile Point. In 1862 the township of Bourke was officially surveyed and laid out at this locality. As the pastoralist industry expanded around Bourke, the town rapidly grew into

2915-412: Was formerly the largest inland port in the world for exporting wool on the Darling River . The Bourke court house is unique in inland Australia in that it was originally a maritime court and to this day maintains that distinction. That distinction is evident in the crowns that sits above the finials of the flag poles atop the corner parapets of the building. Prior to its closure, Bourke railway station

2970-536: Was largely due to the decisions by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority on instructions from the New South Wales government. It said the reasons for those decisions appeared to be about building the case for the new Broken Hill pipeline and the Menindee Lakes project. Maryanne Slattery, senior water researcher with the Australia Institute; "To blame the fish kill on the drought is a cop-out, it

3025-521: Was the terminus of the Main Western railway line . The railway extension from Byrock opened on 3 September 1885. Passenger services on the line were cancelled in September 1975 with the line closing down entirely in 1986, leaving the station derelict. Bourke is considered to represent the edge of the settled agricultural districts and the gateway to the outback that lies north and west of Bourke. This

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