Patrick Bourke

     NOTE: The information on this page is my research to date and is subject to change as I become better informed. I very much welcome any corrections or additional info you might have - my email address is at the bottom of this page. Whilst historical facts are not copyright, my writing about these facts are. If you wish to use any text from this site on Ancestry or on any other website, please ask me first - Tim Hill.


(For a brief history and context on the Bourke family see this page)

Patrick Bourke was likely born circa 1811 at County Galway, Ireland.^1,2

At the time of his birth in Ireland, it was the "middle classes who were the immediate employers of the lower classes. They rented larger tracts of land from the big landlords, and sub-let to the small farmer. Hence it was the middle class who controlled the poor."³ In Tipperary, the population was growing during the early 1800's, and it was perhaps this that brought Patrick and Mary there.³ The resident gentry were of moderate means. Their small estates (most farms were smaller than 10 acres) had uncertain rents and "forced many to seek economic survival by enlarging their demesne farms and hence converting arable to more profitable pastoral use. The knock on effect of this was to drive tenants and labours from the land. The need for agricultural labours was fully supplied by about 1820, and no jobs existed in the towns, as there were few local towns and virtually no manufacturing industry." Reverting the farm land to demernse farming meant ejecting the tenants.³ "The small and middling farmers were caught in the middle of an increasingly polarised society. The paucity of prospects for their children in Ireland, short of subdividing already borderline viable farms, caused many to sell up and emigrate . . . The net effect was that the small middle class withered away, leaving North Tipperary even more polarised [between rich and poor]. The [disturbances] in the second quarter of the 19th century were a result of this polarisation, and were a further cause of emigration by small farmers." Rents in Tipperary were said to said to be the highest outside Dublin.³

In summary, the large farms survived by converting to pasturage, those with some money emigrated, leaving the "landless labourers without hope of employment. This inevitably led to the disturbances and rural outrages that typified North Tipperary in the 1840's more than any other part of Ireland." Coupled with increasing violent unrest, Ireland was no place to be.³ In the Tithe Applotment Books (1823-1837) there are no Bourke or Cannon families in the parish. By the time the Griffith Valuation was done some 9 years after Patrick and Mary departed, there seemed to be no Bourke or Cannon families present. This seems to indicate that the Bourke and Cannon families were not rooted in County Tipperary.^4,5 Before they married, both Patrick and Mary apparently lived at Lackeen, the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Tipperary. This was part of the townlands of Abbeville, which also included Lackeen House, a two-story stone structure.^6,4

He likely married Mary Ann Cannon, in January 1843 at the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Tipperary. The church they were likely married in was St Ruadhán's Church. It also records that they paid a stipend of either £15 or 15 shillings (the record is unclear)..^6,2,7

In 1837 the Parish of Lorrha and Dorrha, County Galway, was described as having 4,004 inhabitants, with only 195 in the village itself. The place is known for the ruins of the old abbey of St. Ruadan which dates back to 584, as well as Lackeen Castle. The land was said to be of good quality.⁸



To the colonies


At the time of their emigration, Patrick was was illiterate and Mary could read and write. Patrick was still signed his daughter Bridget's marriage certificate with a cross 18 years later.^1,9

Patrick and his wife Mary emigrated with their nine-month old daughter Bridget from Cork on 9 November 1843 on the "Royal Consort". They were assisted immigrants and it appears that the fare was £18 7 for adults, and half that for children. Some of the passengers on the Royal Consort seem have come from the Burhampooter which was shipwrecked - but Patrick and his family were unlikely to be amongst them.^10,11,12 After a voyage of 103 days Patrick and his wife Mary arrived at Port Phillip, Victoria, on 18 February 1844.^1,12


Patrick and Mary Ann Cannon became the parents of Michael Bourke on Wednesday, 23 June 1847 at Melbourne.¹³

Patrick's child Michael received his baptism at St. Francis' on Monday, 12 July 1847 at Melbourne. He was baptised in a Roman Catholic ceremony. St. Francis' Church had only recently been constructed.¹³

Patrick's child James received his baptism on Monday, 17 September 1849 at Melbourne. he was baptised in a Roman Catholic ceremony.¹⁴

Patrick's child Mary received her baptism at St. Francis' on Monday, 23 June 1851 at Melbourne.¹⁵ A Patick Bourke of off Lonsdale Street West, in Melbourne, was described as being a milkman in 1856.¹⁶ Patrick Bourke was a labourer in April 1856 at Melbourne.^17,18 Patrick (and presumably his spouse Mary) lived in August 1863 at Jeffcott House in Jeffcott Street, Melbourne. This was a wooden house, "with double verandah, and contains seven good rooms and kitchen". It was probably used as a boarding house.^7,19,20,21

Patrick died on 2 August 1863 at Jeffcott Street, Melbourne, of liver disease which he had for 3 months..²² His body was interred at Melbourne General Cemetery on 4 August 1863 at the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.^7,23,24,25