June 19^th

Travelling north from Cobar, on Kidman Way, was a very wet trip. There was some water over the bitumen road and sheets of water on either side of the road.

We lunched at Bourke as we decided on the next  plan as all camping parks seemed over full. Eventually we settled on a roadside camp which had dark grey metal gravel underfoot..NO NEED TO BE BOGGED!

We visited the ‘Back Of Bourke’  Museum which has a lovely garden of Australian plants including a 'spinning gum' or eucalyptus perriniana. Inside the building there is a wonderful display of historic facts with poetry to enhance the history. Henry Lawson wrote: 'If you know Bourke, You know Australia'.

A second piece of poetry I recorded was: 'I Rise in the Drought from the Queensland Rain, I fill my branches again and again' author unknown. Initially I thought this was a tree speaking but now I think it is a river, probably the Darling River on which the town of Bourke is built.

Spinning Gum (eucalyptus ) taken in the garden of the Museum

Edward  Dickens (husband of Constance Desailly) was featured in the display as he had part ownership of Yanda Station, south of Bourke, during the late 1800s.