Henry Lawson wrote "If you know Bourke you know Australia". Well, Bourke is my first town on the Darling River and a place which already has a place in my heart.
When I was a seven year old stripling my father (when he had black hair instead of white) took me (and others of course, but lets just focus on me for a second) out of my safe environs and into the bush. I remember the first night we camped on the Bogan River (at least that's where I think we camped) before making our way to Coopers Creek via Bourke. It was a magic journey. A journey full of wonder for a young mind. I remember vividly the times when at night, with the fire low we would retire to Dad's old canvass tent (more a tarp then a tent really) where, by the light of an old hurricane lantern, Dad would read to me about the great gray green greasy Limpopo River and other suchlike Rudyard Kipling gems. It was wonderful. As I lay on the banks of the Cooper my soul gradually become one with the land, and ever since I have loved the Outback.
Now of course, I am about to write a new chapter of my life in the great Australian Outback. This chapter is somewhat different from the other chapters of life. Its centred around the Darling for a start. I've always felt that the Darling has had an allure for me of course. I've just never really given in to this allure. Not that there has been much opportunity to of course.
For at least the last ten years the river has run pretty much dry. Instead of a majestic river "A Second Mississippi" as Henry Lawson would have you believe, it has instead been a chain of elongated billabong's. Instead of water gently flowing, blue green algae has proliferated, making much of the water virtually unusable and certainly undrinkable. Fish have suffered and could be seen desperately trying to survive in the few clean sections of the river. Today however, its a different kettle of fish. The Warrego, one of the tributaries to the Darling hasn't flowed for twenty years but this year its in flood. Of course most of the water will be eaten up on the vast floodplain's north of Bourke, but this years La Nina weather pattern has changed all that. Some of the precious water has managed to hit the Darling River. More water from Flooding in Central NSW has also meant that the average depth of the Darling has risen markedly. Not to dangerous levels. Not to flood levels, but to healthy levels: where people can swim in comfort and the fish and other animals have the opportunity to breed prolifically before going into hibernation when the next drought hits this benighted land. Farmers of course, are in ecstasy. now they just need to get crops planted again and that could be the tricky part.
Since the drought began in this area the population of he town has dropped by about a third. People have gradually been drifting away to find work in less benighted lands. Now however, the land is far from benighted. Today the land seems to be bursting with energy and the farmers are walking about with a spring in their steps. Now they need to figure out ways to entice people to return to Bourke and help them plant their crops. Of course the problem with this is that the amount of water allocated for farm usage is way beyond the capacity of the river meaning that the continued degradation of the river is almost a dead certainty, despite the federal government making noise about buying back water rights... Its a beautiful place around Bourke. I can really understand why people around here fight to keep the way of life they live going. So much beauty. So much magnificence.
The rivers upon which now I look are those which conjure up a wonderful sense of romance. The mighty Paroo, the Bulloo overflow and the Warrego just to name a few. These are the names of far off places and little understood by people sitting back in their offices. As is Bourke of course. Just the word "Bourke" conjures up images today in any person who has learnt anything about the history of Australia (and even in the minds of those who have not the faintest idea of the history of Australia.
If you hear somebody remark that something is at the "back of Bourke", then you immediately know that it is miles away. And that's because Bourke is in the middle of nowhere. Anything that is further away than Bourke is an unimaginable distance away. I love that. When people think of remoteness, then surely the Australian outback must be one of their first thoughts. And Bourke is a gateway into remoteness. A gateway into the Outback and hence a gateway to my heart.
All my love,
Christo
P: The Limpopo River, of which Rudyard Kipling waxes upon, is a river one third smaller than the Darling River - at least in terms of length. Of course, the amount of water which flows along the Limpopo River is more - almost twice as much in fact. It does have similarities however. Like the Darling River, the Limpopo runs through desert country. Like the Darling River its flow waxes and wanes with the heavy annual rains. Unlike the Darling River, the Limpopo has thousands upon thousands of people who live upon its banks.
