| Louth New South Wales |
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Louth
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| Population: | 103[1] |
| Postcode: | 2840 |
| Elevation: | 100 m (328 ft) |
| Location: | |
| LGA: | Bourke Shire |
| State District: | Barwon |
| Federal Division: | Parkes |
Louth is a village on the eastern side of the Darling River in New South Wales, Australia. The village is 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.[2] At the 2006 census, Louth and the surrounding region had a population of 103.[1]
The community has a pub (which serves as a cafe and store), 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. [2] 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.[2]
In 1888 the first mechanised shearing of sheep, in the world, took place at Sir Samuel McCaughey's Dunlop Station, a property located within the Louth district.[3]
One notable descendant of Thomas Andrew Mathews is Sarah Matthews, who currently resides with her family in Galway on the west coast of Ireland. It is said that her father Finbar, hailing from Co. Louth, added the second T in the surname Matthews to compensate for the loss of the second R in 'Finbarr'. Finbar has also erected a memorable headstone in Carragh Hill, Galway to commemorate his darling wife Anne (neé Jenkins) that is now also an Irish National Monument. Sarah is now an accomplished author publishing two best-selling books; 'Libyan Heart' and 'The Stolen Colours of The Land'.