High seas beckon for Bourke boy

Former Bourke couple Lou and Andrea Capewell with son Hamish Photo: supplied

The Bourke community is always proud of former residents who leave town to pursue bigger ambitions or grab opportunities they may not have in their home town.

The Capewells are a well known family who lived in Bourke in the 1980s. Dad Lou Capewell is a popular former Bourkeite and now his son Hamish is flying the flag for his father’s hometown as a new recruit with the Royal Australian Navy.

Lou left Bourke in 1989 to pursue a life in the Australian Army, playing rugby league for St Pats in Bathurst along the way. He had a taste for the adventurous life the Defence Forces can offer, with a tour of duty in Namibia during Nelson Mandela’s election.

But Bourke ties are strong and on a return visit to Bourke during leave from his United Nations Namibia posting he met his future wife Andrea during the Bourke Easter festival in 1994.

Read more in the printed edition of the Western Herald.