Affectionately known by Bourke locals as ‘Fordsy’, the Warrego Hotel is one of the few pise constructions in the area. Built in 1913, the licence (and premises) were relocated from the ‘Salmonford’ site which is located nearer to the Warrego river.
The pub is one of the old-style roadside inns perched right on the side of the road (the footprint of the hotel actually extends well into the gazetted roadway, but don’t tell anyone), where locals congregate to catch up and have a drink. Why not join them?
The pub offers cold drinks and snacks, with camping available nearby including showers and toilets.
A Pub Stop along these adjoining Pub Routes. Discover more routes and pub history.
Pub Stories
Discover the history of the Warrego Hotel
The Salmonford Hotel was built by the “rough-and-ready Irishman” Michael McAuliffe on a free selection of 40 acres in 1869.
The hotel was located on the eastern side of the Warrego from the present hotel and is described as having “no more than twelve or fifteen rooms”.
McAuliffe originally named his roadside inn “The House that Jack Built” and it was the first public house built west of Bourke on the parched road to the Paroo River.
For whatever reason, McAuliffe renamed his inn the “Salmonford Hotel” in 1870 and it was that name which stuck for the next four decades.
McAuliffe left the district to settle in Eulo in 1879, where he briefly held the licence of the Eulo Hotel. After his departure, the Salmonford Hotel was held by a series of publicans, until Bernard Wilkie, a German who had previously been the publican at Gumbalie, built the current mud brick building on the western side of the river around 1913. He officially transferred the licence from the Salmonford to his newly named Warrego Hotel in early 1915.
Salmonford Hotel
It was the enterprising Irishman Michael McAuliffe who built the first public house west of Bourke on the Warrego River at Fords Bridge in 1869. McAuliffe originally named his roadside inn “The House that Jack Built” but for whatever reason, the following year it was named the ‘Salmonford Hotel’, and it was that name which stuck for the next four decades.