County of Bourke, Victoria


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. 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 General Sir Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales between 1831 and 1837. 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.
Unlike counties in England and in the United States, Australian counties serve no administrative or political function. Rather, counties exist for purposes of land ownership. For example, property titles in Lands administrative divisions of Australia are often listed as being situated within a parish and county. For political subdivisions, Australia employs the Local Government Area system — which includes shires, districts, and city councils — as the third and lowest tier of government.
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. There was also the Bourke County Court in the 1850s, which became the County Court of Victoria. Melbourne is also referenced as being in "Bourke county" in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition.

Parishes

Following is a list of parishes within the County of Bourke. Many of the links below link to a modern suburb or town, which is situated within the parish. In most cases, the parish itself is much bigger than the modern suburb or town.
Several of the parishes are also part of a neighbouring county. For example, Bylands, Forbes, Goldie, Lancefield and Newham parishes are located in the County of Bourke as well as the County of Dalhousie. Morang, Toorourrong and Yan Yean parishes are in the County of Bourke as well as the County of Evelyn. Finally, Ballan parish is situated within both the County of Bourke and the County of Grant.
ParishLGACoordinatesRefMap
BlackwoodShire of Moorabool
BollindaCity of Hume
BoroondaraCity of Boroondara
Bulla BullaCity of Hume
BulleenCity of Manningham
BullengarookShire of Macedon Ranges
ButtlejorrkCity of Hume
BylandsShire of Mitchell
ChintinShire of Macedon Ranges
CoimadaiShire of Moorabool
CoornmillShire of Moorabool
Cut Paw PawCity of Maribyrnong
DandenongCity of Greater Dandenong
Darraweit GuimShire of Macedon Ranges
DerrimutCity of Melton
DeutgamCity of Wyndham
DjerriwarrhCity of Melton
Doutta GallaCity of Moonee Valley
ForbesShire of Mitchell
GisborneShire of Macedon Ranges
GoldieShire of Macedon Ranges
Jika JikaCity of Darebin
HavelockShire of Macedon Ranges
HoldenCity of Melton
Jika JikaCity of Whittlesea
KalkalloCity of Whittlesea
KeelbundoraCity of Darebin
KerrieShire of Macedon Ranges
KorkuperrimulShire of Moorabool
KororoitCity of Melton
LancefieldShire of Macedon Ranges
MacedonShire of Macedon Ranges
MaribyrnongCity of Brimbank
Melbourne NorthCity of Yarra
Melbourne SouthCity of Port Phillip
MerriangCity of Whittlesea
MerrimuShire of Moorabool
MicklehamCity of Hume
MonegeettaShire of Macedon Ranges
MoorabbinCity of Kingston
Moorarbool EastShire of Moorabool
MorangCity of Whittlesea
MordiallocCity of Kingston
MulgraveCity of Monash
MyrniongShire of Moorabool
NunawadingCity of Whitehorse
PrahranCity of Glen Eira
PywheitjorrkCity of Melton
RochfordShire of Macedon Ranges
SpringfieldShire of Macedon Ranges
TarneitCity of Wyndham
ToorourrongCity of Whittlesea
TruganinaCity of Hobsons Bay
TullamarineCity of Hume
Wallan WallanShire of Mitchell
Will Will RookCity of Hume
WollertCity of Whittlesea
YangardookCity of Melton
YurokeCity of Hume