Louth, New South Wales

Infobox Australian Place| type = town
name = Louth
state = nsw


caption =
lga = Bourke Shire Council
postcode = 2840
est =
pop = 103
pop_footnotes=
elevation=
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
stategov = Barwon
fedgov = Calare
dist1 = 830
dir1 = NW
location1= Sydney
dist2 = 428
dir2 = NW
location2= Dubbo
dist3 = 132
dir3 = NW
location3= Cobar
dist43 = 99
dir4 = SW
location4= Bourke

Louth is a small town on the Darling River in New South Wales, Australia in Bourke Shire, 99 kilometres south west of Bourke and 132 kilometres north west of Cobar. The town is made famous by the Louth Races which are held in August each year, attracting crowds of nearly five thousand. At the 2006 census, Louth and the surrounding region had a population of 103.Census 2006 AUS
id=SSC17899
name=Louth (State Suburb)
accessdate=2008-10-02
quick=on]

The community has a pub, school, tennis club and turf club.

The town was established in 1859 when Thomas Andrew Mathews, an Irish immigrant from County Louth, built a pub to serve the passing trade along the then busy Darling River. At one stage the town grew to have three hotels, a cordial factory, three bakeries, two butchers, a post office, three churches, a Chinese garden, a general store and a police station. The post office still remains and has been beautifully restored and is now a privately owned bed and breakfast.

When T.A. Mathew's first wife, Mary Mathews, died in 1886, he had a unique headstone built that is now an Australian National Monument. At dusk each night, the cross reflects the setting sun across the town acting as a beacon of light that on the anniversary of her death lights up the doorstep of where her family home once stood.

References

External links

* [http://www.louthraces.com/ Louth races] - Official website