Tourists are being encouraged to do an outback discovery tour in the new Pub Route.

The route features stops along the route that many cattle and sheep herds travelled back in the day before trucks became the main form of livestock transportation, across Bourke, Cobar and Walgett.

The plan has been around six years in the making since the Far North West Joint Organisation, including Bourke, Cobar, and Walgett, sat down together and pondered about a tourism strategy that would bring more people to the outback. 

Bars, pubs, and stables popped up along these routes where the stockmen stopped for a rest. 

Project organisers wanted to tell the story of the pubs in their shires but weren't sure how to go about it. 

That's when artist Andrew Hull, BushMedia owner Andrew Drane, and journalist Jono Roe came into the picture. 

"Most businesses weren't very visible online, or the imagery wasn't good," project coordinator Andrew Hull said. 

"We first started mapping all the old historic pubs that used to be in the region.

"Many of these pubs were located on properties and are people's land holdings now. They've got memory and records of these places. Some of the family members are still alive and there's a good case of local knowledge.

"They tell the stories of bush rangers, pioneers, cameleers, women of the bush. The whole story of Western NSW can be told through the lens of these pubs because they're such central location for all this activity."

Finding an enticing name for the project proved to be one of the biggest hurdles. 

"We had trouble coming up with a name because when people hear 'history', they switch off," Mr Hull said. 

That's when the name 'Pub Route' was born. 

The pub route actually consists of eight different routes through Bourke, Cobar, and Walgett. Some of the routes run into the neighbouring shires, for example into the Pilliga. 

The eight routes on the Pub Route later. Photo: The Pub Route.

"There's not one single line where you can drive through all those villages. That's why we came up with a bunch of different routes," Mr Hull said. 

Although the Pub Route hasn't officially launched yet, individual travellers and car clubs have already started working their way around the routes. 

"We had a convoy of Land Rovers turn up in Euabalong the other day," Mr Hull said. 

"The feedback has been overwhelming really.

"The pubs themselves are highly engaged with the project. They all love it."

The Pub Route team has been working on putting up signs to mark important sites along the routes, such as where old pubs used to be. 

QR codes are on all signs where travellers can read more about the place they're visiting. 

The Pub Route is hoping to expand to surrounding shires to bring the flow of tourists from the route down their way as well. 

The official launch date for the Pub Route has not been set yet, but Mr Hull predicts it will be before Easter.