Bourke Shire is a

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

in the Orana region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The Shire is located adjacent to the

Darling River The Darling River (or River Darling; Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka''), is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth. Including its long ...

, which is known as the Barwon River upstream from Bourke; and located adjacent to the

Mitchell Highway Mitchell Highway is an outback state highway located in the central and south western regions of Queensland and the northern and central western regions of New South Wales in Australia. The southern part of Mitchell Highway forms part of t ...

. The northern boundary of the Shire is located adjacent to the border between New South Wales and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. The shire is a wool and beef producing area. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Bourke Shire Council is Cr. Barry Hollman, an unaligned politician.

History

The Bourke LGA (

) was traditionally home to around fifteen Aboriginal groups. The people of the region were traditionally

hunter-gatherer A hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living in a community, or according to an ancestrally derived Lifestyle, lifestyle, in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local naturally occurring sources, esp ...

s as well as seed harvesters, who managed the environment. These traditional landowners have been identified as belonging to five main groups, the

Ngiyampaa The Ngiyampaa people, also spelt Ngyiyambaa, Nyammba and Ngemba, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. The generic name refers to an aggregation of three groups, the Ngiyampaa, the Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, and the ...

, Barranbinya, Paruntji,

Naualko The Naualko (Nhaawuparlku) were an indigenous Australian people of New South Wales. Name The name Naualko derives from their word for 'yes'(''naua/nawa'' (so written by Norman Tindale). The word is now reconstructed as ''nhaawu'', and thus their ...

, and

Muruwari The Muruwari, also spelt Murawari, Murawarri, Murrawarri and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales and the southwestern area of Queensland. Language A monograph on and a dictionary of Muruwari langua ...

peoples. Aboriginal people consulted for a 2019 Aboriginal heritage study identified the Bourke LGA as the traditional country of the Barkindji people, Bardaji people, Murrawari (Muruwari) people, Nyemba (Ngiyampaa) people, and Nyirrpa people, who each occupied different areas. The boundaries of the land they occupied were defined largely by rivers, landforms, and areas of access to seasonal environmental resources.

Main towns and villages

AU-NSW-Brewarrina-Bourke Shire sign-2021

Bourke Shire includes Bourke and the very small

outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...

towns of Byrock, Enngonia, Fords Bridge,

Wanaaring Wanaaring is a remote outback village in north western New South Wales, Australia. Situated on the Paroo River, some 980 kilometres from Sydney, and 180 km west of Bourke. At the , Wanaaring had a population of 81. Wanaaring is on the "Cut ...

and

Louth Louth may refer to: Australia *Hundred of Louth, a cadastral unit in South Australia * Louth, New South Wales, a town * Louth Bay, a bay in South Australia ** Louth Bay, South Australia, a town and locality Canada * Louth, Ontario Ireland * Cou ...

Demographics

According to the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

during 2003–04 there: * were 1,062 wage and salary earners (ranked 141st in New South Wales and 457th in Australia, less than 0.1% of both New South Wales's 2,558,415 and Australia's 7,831,856) * was a total income of $36 million (ranked 137th in New South Wales and 449th in Australia, less than 0.1% of both New South Wales's $107 billion and Australia's $304 billion) * was an estimated average income per wage and salary earner of $33,611 (ranked 88th in New South Wales and 298th in Australia, 81% of New South Wales's $41,407 and 87% of Australia's $38,820) * was an estimated median income per wage and salary earner of $32,426 (ranked 71st in New South Wales and 235th in Australia, 91% of New South Wales's $35,479 and 95% of Australia's $34,149).

Council

Current composition and election method

Bourke Shire Council is composed of ten

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

s elected proportionally as a single

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The

is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 10 September 2016, and the makeup of the council is as follows: The current Council, elected in 2021, in order of election, is:

Election results

2024

2021

Notable persons

In 1884, Sid 'Combo' Ross set a record by shearing nine lambs in nine minutes. Scottish-Australian poet balladeer Will. H. Ogilvie (1869–1963) worked on Belalie Station on the

Warrego River The Warrego River is an intermittent river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, which is located in South West Queensland and in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The Warrego River is the north ...

, composed many of his poems in the 1890s. Belalie is between the township of Enngonia (formerly Eringunia) and the Queensland border.

References

{{Authority control Local government areas of New South Wales