| Bourke AustralianHouse of RepresentativesDivision | |
|---|---|
| Created | 1901 |
| Abolished | 1949 |
| Namesake | Sir Richard Bourke |
TheDivision of Bourke was anAustralian electoral division inVictoria. The division was proclaimed in 1900, and was one of theoriginal 65 divisions to be contested at thefirst federal election. The division was named forSir Richard Bourke,Governor of New South Wales at the time of the founding ofMelbourne. After 1910, it was a safe seat for theAustralian Labor Party, but was lost to an independent Labor member in 1946.
When the division was first proclaimed, it covered a large area of the northern suburbs of Melbourne, spanning fromEssendon in the west, to what was laterWatsonia North in the north-east, and toIvanhoe East in the south-east.[1] The division underwent boundary changes throughout its existence and at one point, also coveredThomastown andEltham. It underwent its largest boundary change in 1922, when it was significantly shrunk to cover mainly the suburbs ofBrunswick andCoburg only, as well as parts ofPascoe Vale.[1] The lost areas were replaced by the expandedDivision of Batman andDivision of Flinders.[2][3]
The division was abolished in 1949.[1] It was replaced by the similarly-namedDivision of Burke (named after a different personRobert O'Hara Burke), which also covered the Brunswick area, and the newly-createdDivision of Wills which covered the Coburg area.[4][5]
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