Everything about Richard Bourke totally explained
» This article is about the NSW governor, for the Irish statesman see Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo
General Sir Richard Bourke,
KCB, (
4 May 1777 –
13 August 1855)
was
Governor of the Colony of
New South Wales,
Australia between 1831 and 1837.
Born in
Dublin, Ireland, Bourke was educated at
Westminster and read law at
Christ Church, Oxford. He joined the army in 1798, serving in the
Netherlands with the
Duke of York before a posting in
South America in 1807 where he participated in the siege and storming of
Montevideo. He was promoted
major-general in 1821.
In recognition of his duty to the crown, Bourke was first appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern District of the
Cape of Good Hope before his appointment succeeding Sir
Ralph Darling as
Governor of New South Wales in 1831.
Bourke proved to be an able, if controversial, Governor. Appalled by the excessive punishments doled out to convicts, Bourke passed 'The Magistrates Act', which limited the sentence a magistrate could pass to fifty lashes (previously there was no such limit). 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.
In
1835 Bourke implemented the doctrine of
terra nullius by proclaiming that
Indigenous Australians couldn't sell or assign land, nor could an individual person acquire it, other than through distribution by the
Crown.
Bourke, however, 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 seventy, as well as granting rights to freed convicts, such as allowing the acquisition of property and service on juries. It has been argued that the abolition of
convict transportation to Australia in 1840 can be attributable to the actions of Bourke.
Emboldened by these changes, Bourke abolished the distinction of the
Anglican Church as the state church of New South Wales, declaring each religious community on equal footing before the law. He also increased spending on education and was credited as the first governor to publish satisfactory accounts of public receipts and expenditure.
In
1837, the year of his promotion to
lieutenant-general, he named the town of
Melbourne after
Viscount Melbourne the
U.K. Prime Minister.
Bourke Street in Melbourne's central business district and the town of
Bourke, New South Wales were named after him, in turn. There is a statue of Bourke outside the State Library of New South Wales in
Sydney which records his accomplishments as Governor in florid detail.
Bourke was promoted
general in 1851, and died near
Limerick,
Ireland in 1855.
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