County of Bourke, Victoria

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

{{Infobox Australian place

| type = cadastral

| name = Bourke

| state = vic

| image = Bourke Victoria.png

| caption = Location in Victoria

| established = 22 June 1853

| area = 4457

| near-nw = Talbot

| near-n = Dalhousie

| near-ne = Anglesey

| near-e = Evelyn

| near-se = Mornington

| near-s = Port Phillip

| near-sw = Grant

| near-w = Grant

}}

Image:Bourke County 1866.jpg

Image:Bourke County 1885.jpg

Image:Bourke County 1886.jpg

The County of Bourke is one of the 37 counties of Victoria which are part of the Lands administrative divisions of Australia, (used for land titles and no longer other administrative or political function). It is the oldest and most populous county in Victoria and contains the city of Melbourne. Like other counties in Victoria, it is subdivided into parishes. The county was named after Irish born Sir Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales between 1831 and 1837.[http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=53&pg=732 Bourke street Melbourne] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003232825/http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/info.cfm?top=53&pg=732 |date=2006-10-03 }} It is bordered by the Werribee River in the west; the Great Dividing Range in the north; Port Phillip in the south; and by Dandenong Creek, a small part of the Yarra River, and the Plenty River in the east. The county was proclaimed in 1853.

The "Melbourne and County of Bourke Police" was the name for the police force in the area before 1853. The County of Bourke was used on the name of the electoral roll in 1845.[http://www.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/whatdo/services/famhistory/electoralrolls State Library of Tasmania, Electoral Rolls] There was also the "Bourke County Court" in the 1850s,[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~pobjoyoneill/Keilor/brkcntycrt.html Bourke County Court] which became the County Court of Victoria. Melbourne is also referenced as being in "Bourke county" in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Melbourne |volume=18 |page=90}}