The Darling River Run

2 days ago

Where the outback tells its stories in silence...

Atop Mount Oxley near Bourke, nature reveals its raw, sculptural beauty - twisted trunks, sunbaked stone and wind-worn timber shaped by centuries of outback extremes. There’s a quiet power in this landscape, a reminder that even under the harshest of conditions, beauty thrives.

Visitors to Mount Oxley will require a day pass which can be purchased from the Back O' Bourke Information & Exhibition Centre. Camping also available via online bookings at the Mount Oxley website.

#DarlingRiverRun #OutbackNSW #MountOxley #OutOnTheRun #OutbackBeds #OutbackLandscapes Visit Bourke 📷 Andrew Drane - BushMedia ... See MoreSee Less

The Darling River Run

3 days ago

For 30 years, Geoff Looney has been photographing birdlife near his home at the Menindee Lakes in Far West New South Wales, recording over 200 species.

Mr Looney compiled his observations into a local guide with photos of the birds, and last year launched the third edition.

Australian National University water justice researcher Dan Schulz has hailed him as a pioneer in the citizen science space and said his book was accessible for researchers, birdwatchers and water advocates alike.

"It helps translate the massive amounts of data he's got into a really detailed but really easy to use sort of guide, Mx Schulz said.

Read the full story: www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-25/menindee-lakes-birdman-geoff-looney-photography-birds/105919896

✍️ Katherine Spackman for ABC News Broken Hill.

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The Darling River Run

6 days ago

Some interesting history on the Tilpa (Royal) Hotel.🍻THEN & NOW | Tilpa Hotel

Grown from the river boat trade along the Darling River, the Tilpa Hotel is at the heart of #Tilpa and a favourite attraction for both travellers and locals.

Full of character, the pub’s walls, made of timber and corrugated iron, are adorned with traveller’s graffiti, offering an entertaining read while enjoying a cold beer and a yarn on the #PubRoute.

Tilpa’s first licensed hotel was opened in 1877 when a licence was granted to James Buckley on January third of that year, its location is given as Killara, Darling River. The name of this new hotel was the "Wee Watter”, although it has sometimes, unofficially, been called the “Wee Watta” or “Wee Watah”.

Other hotels in the vicinity have been The Exchange, The Royal Mail, The Criterion, The Shamrock Inn and the Telegraph Hotel.

The last hotel to be licensed in the Tilpa district is the only one to survive to the present day, The Royal (pictured), described by a Tooth and Co rep in 1927 as:

"A wooden building with iron roof consisting of a main portion containing first class dining room, 2 parlours, 8 bedrooms and large wire gauze covered sleeping out space, also a detached building consisting of kitchen and second class dining room. About 30 yards away is extensive stabling. There are 2 acres of land. Insurances are – Hotel 800, Stables 200 and Furniture 300. The price, with possession, is 1,450 cash. Beer trade averages about 14 cases a month."

The pub made an appearance in Nancy Cato’s novel ‘All The Rivers Run’:

“At Tilpa there was a licensed hotel, though the quality of the liquor was little better than at the riverside shanties, with their sly-grog disguised as “orange squash”.

The hotelkeeper had a large lead-lined coffin on the counter which he kept full of rum, ladling it out at threepence a nobbler. He liked to have it ready, he said, in case he should “pop off sudden,” and he thought the fact of its having been used as a container for spirits would help to preserve him when he was buried."

Some things change - the cars out front, the beer on tap - but the soul of Tilpa never does.

➡ Read more about the history of the 'Pubs of Tilpa' on the PubRoute website by following the link in the comments below.

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