trilby louth darling river: "a place that loved a drink, a party and a punt.." So wrote Henry Lawson. Louth, beautifully set on the banks of the Darling River is a small service town (Pub, fuel and general store) about 100km downstream from Bourke and 100km upstream from Tilpa. The town was originally established as a service point for the Cobb & Co coaches which serviced outback Australia. Today, it provides the perfect stopover (and river crossing) for the Darling River Run; an outback journey through NSW from Walgett to Wentworth on the Victorian/NSW border.

The town of Louth was created when T.A Mathews established a Hotel to service the river trade and the Cobb & Co coaches that used it as a stopover. Nearby, the historic Dunlop Station was the first sheep station in the world to use mechanical shears. Louth is ideally located for access to the Darling River Run and affords a choice of eastern or western route along the Darling River downstream to Tilpa as well as the upstream section to Bourke and beyond.

About 20kms downstream on the western side of the river is Trilby Station which is a 5th generation sheep farm (200,000 acres) which holds a special place in pastoral history as it was the first property in the world to use mechanical shears. Trilby Station is a wonderful place to visit and allows the visitor to experience a working sheep station with a wonderful interpretive history.

Once a year, this normally sleepy town is host to a classic country race meeting (the Louth Races) in august each year which attracts 1,000's of visitors from around Australia.

Louth also is the site of an amazing and emotive structure known as 'The Celtic Cross' - a 7 metre (24 ft) polished granite cross that dominates the cemetery on the hill overlooking the town. The cross was constructed by the founder of Louth, Thomas Matthews, who erected the monument as a perpetual memorial to wife, Mary Mathews, who died in 1866. Significant anywhere, the Celtic Cross is even more so here as it reflects the setting sunlight to the space where the front door of there house every year on the anniversary of her death on August 19.

The monument is not only testament to the love and devotion of a husband for his wife but also the accuracy of navigation technology of the 1800's as its alignment was reportedly aided by one of the river boat captains of the Darling River. Anyone visiting Louth can observe the occurrence and the locals have thoughtfully marked the places throughout the year that the visitor can experience the 3 minute lightshow.

Louth and Trilby station are located about 1 hrs drive from Bourke (Dry weather road) which is about 10 hrs from Sydney, about 13 hrs from Brisbane, about 12 hrs from Melbourne and Adelaide.