Sir Richard Bourke | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byMartin Archer Shee, c. 1837–1850 | |
| 8th Governor of New South Wales | |
| In office 3 December 1831 – 5 December 1837 | |
| Monarchs | William IV Victoria |
| Preceded by | Sir Ralph Darling |
| Succeeded by | George Gipps |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1777-05-04)4 May 1777[1] |
| Died | 12 August 1855(1855-08-12) (aged 78)[1] |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Jane Bourke |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Rank | General |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath |
GeneralSir Richard Bourke (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855) was aBritish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as thegovernor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelongWhig (liberal), he encouraged theemancipation of convicts and helped bring forward the ending ofpenal transportationto Australia. In this, he faced strong opposition from the landlord establishment and its press. He approved a new settlement on theYarra River, and named itMelbourne, in honour of the incumbent British prime minister,Lord Melbourne.
Bourke was born on 4 May 1777 inDublin, Ireland, the son of Anne (née Ryan) and John Bourke. His mother was fromCounty Tipperary and his father fromDromsally inCounty Limerick. He was educated in England atWestminster School before reading law atChrist Church, Oxford. He was a distant relation of philosopherEdmund Burke, whose home he frequently visited.[2]
After securing the patronage ofWilliam Windham, a friend of Edmund Burke, he secured an appointment asensign in theGrenadier Guards in 1798. He served in theAnglo-Russian invasion of Holland in 1799 and was badly wounded in the jaw, which gave him a lifelong speech impediment and contributed to his decision not to seek a political career. Bourke was promotedlieutenant andcaptain in the same year andmajor in 1805. The following year he was promotedlieutenant-colonel and made superintendent of the junior department at theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst.[2]
In 1807, Bourke participated in theBritish invasions of the River Plate asquartermaster general, taking part in theSiege of Montevideo and the Battle of Buenos Aires.[2] He was promoted tomajor general in 1821. He retired from the army after thePeninsular War to live on his Irish estate, but eventually sought government office to increase his income.
Bourke was appointed to theCape Colony in 1825 and was promoted to Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern District of theCape of Good Hope, acting as governor for both the eastern and western districts until 1828. Under Bourke's governorship, much was done to reform the old mercantilist system of government inherited from theDutch East India Company at the Cape.[3]
Bourke also introduced laws that upheld the property rights of the indigenousKhoekhoe people, although this legislation was aimed to facilitate the exploitation of the Khoekhoe as cheap labourers.[4]
Bourke was an avowed Whig. In November 1830, the Whigs won government in a climate of reform.Major-General Bourke was appointed to succeedSir Ralph Darling, who was also Irish-born, asGovernor of New South Wales in 1831. Bourke proved to be an able, if controversial, governor. In most of his efforts, he faced entrenched opposition from the local conservatives: the 'exclusive' faction in theNew South Wales Legislative Council, and the Colonial SecretaryAlexander Macleay and the Colonial Treasurer Campbell Riddell. The newspaperThe Sydney Morning Herald always opposed him. (The exclusives were hostile to the participation of ex-convicts ('emancipists') in civil life, hence were opposed to changes which moved the colony from military to civil governance.) Bourke described himself as being "pretty much in the situation that Earl Grey would find himself in if all members of his Cabinet were Ultra Tories and he could neither turn them out nor leave them".
Bourke had authority from theColonial Office to extend trial by jury and substitute civil for military juries in criminal cases. He managed this despite fierce opposition from the legislature, and his 1833 bill for the extension of juries was only passed with his casting vote and with conservative amendments.
Appalled by the excessive punishments doled out to convicts, Governor Bourke initiated the Magistrates Act, which simplified existing regulations and limited the sentence a magistrate could pass to 50 lashes (previously no such limit existed). The bill was passed by the legislature because Bourke presented evidence that magistrates were exceeding their powers and passing illegal sentences, in part because regulations were complex and confusing. However, furious magistrates and employers petitioned the crown against this interference with their legal rights, fearing that a reduction in punishments would cease to provide enough deterrence to the convicts, and this issue was exploited by his opponents.
In 1835, Bourke issued aproclamation through the Colonial Office, implementing the doctrine ofterra nullius by proclaiming thatIndigenous Australians could not sell or assign land, nor could an individual person acquire it, other than through distribution bythe Crown.[5] This proclamation, which effectively deprived indigenous Australians of legal recognition as land owners under colonial law, was prompted by an exploitative attempt to acquire land from local people, under a private treaty,Batman's Treaty.[6]
In 1837 a statue of Bourke by English sculptorEdward Hodges Baily was erected to Bourke in Sydney.[7]
Bourke continued to create controversy within the colony by combating the inhumane treatment handed out to convicts, including limiting the number of convicts each employer was allowed to 70, as well as granting rights to emancipists, such as allowing the acquisition of property and service on juries. It has been argued that the abolition of convict transportation to New South Wales in 1840[8] can be attributable to the actions of Bourke.
In the1836 Church Act, Bourke abolished the status of theAnglican Church as the state church of New South Wales, declaring each religious denomination on equal footing before the law. He also increased spending on education and attempted to set up a system of public nondenominational schools. He was credited as the first governor to publish satisfactory accounts of public receipts and expenditures.
In 1837, the year of his promotion to lieutenant-general, he was made colonel for life of the64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot. The same year, he named the town ofMelbourne afterThe 2nd Viscount Melbourne, theBritish Prime Minister. He returned to England in 1838, traversing the Andes to avoid a voyage aroundCape Horn.[9]
Bourke was promoted to general in 1851. He died at his residence, Thornfield House,Ahane, inCounty Limerick, Ireland, on Sunday 12 August 1855[10] and is buried in Stradbally Cemetery inCastleconnell.
Bourke Street in Melbourne's central business district and the town ofBourke were named after him. TheCounty of Bourke, Victoria, which includes Melbourne, andBourke County, New South Wales, were also named after him.Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, is generally considered to be named in honour of his wife.
The bronze statue of Bourke outside theState Library of New South Wales in Sydney was the first public statue ever erected in Australia. It was dedicated on 11 April 1842.[11] It records his accomplishments as governor in florid detail. It was funded by public subscription and made byEdward Hodges Baily in London.[12]
Bourke married Elizabeth, daughter of John Bourke, Receiver-General of the land tax forMiddlesex; they had a son, Richard, and three daughters. One daughter, Anne Maria, married the Australian administrator and politician SirEdward Deas Thomson, and was an ancestor of theBarons Altrincham.[13] Another daughter, Frances, marriedRev. John Jebb, nephew and namesake of aBishop of Limerick. His daughter Mary Jane married Dudley Montague Perceval, the fifth son of Prime MinisterSpencer Perceval, an administrator at the Cape of Good Hope during Bourke's tenure as Lieutenant Governor.
In 1836 Bourke changed the matron ofParramatta Female Factory fromAnn Gordon to another. There were rumours that Bourke's son was the father of children born to Ann Gordon's daughters.[14]
This document implemented the doctrine ofterra nullius upon which British settlement was based, reinforcing the notion that the land belonged to no one prior the British Crown taking possession of it. Aboriginal people, therefore, could not sell or assign the land, nor could an individual person acquire it, other than through distribution by the Crown. ... Although many people at the time also recognised that the Aboriginal occupants had rights in the lands (and this was confirmed in a House of Commons report on Aboriginal relations in 1837), the law followed and almost always applied the principles expressed in Bourke's proclamation. This would not change until the Australian High Court's decision in theMabo case in 1992.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Governor of the Cape Colony (Acting) 1826–1828 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of New South Wales 1831–1837 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Colonel of the64th (2nd Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot 1837–1855 | Succeeded by |
| BeforeFederation |  | |
|---|---|---|
| AfterFederation | ||
