Today I had the pleasure of visiting Bourke to officially open Australia’s newest tourism icon: the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition Centre.

The Centre – built with $3.4 million in Federal funding – provides visitors to western NSW with the opportunity to experience the stories which have made the outback such a unique part of our national character.

It will leave visitors with the true taste of the outback.

I congratulate the Bourke Shire Council on delivering this first-class tourism facility.

The Centre uses the latest interactive technology as well as artefacts to tell the story of the Darling River over the past 500 years, with displays about the region’s cultural history, explorers, early settlers, river boats, unions, poets and outback legends.

It’s also fitted out with a café which can cater for up to 200 visitors.

Construction of the Centre created many construction jobs, including employment for about 100 tradespeople.