The story of James Joseph Bourke (above) is a very sad one. He was born at Boosey in 1885, the fourth son of James and Ellen Bourke, and went to school at Boosey North Catholic School. He was a fine athlete and a very skilled footballer, but was never to reach his full potential as an adult.
He had finished school and was joining his father and brothers as a farmer. The 1914 Victorian Postal Directory has an entry for
“BOURKE JAMES J FARMER BOOSEY”
It was while playing the football that he loved that James Bourke suffered a severe head injury that was to affect the rest of his life. The injury caused a degree of brain damage, and James lived the rest of his life at Melbourne’s Mont Park Asylum.
Sister Veronica Lonergan was Jame’s niece, and she wrote of him:
“ My mother Ellen was James' sister, and often visited him and I, too, once went with her. He was a gentle person, and worked out in the gardens. He could have been released, but the authorities thought it would be too much of a trauma to fit into the outside world again. He was buried in Fawkner Cemetery from our home in Brunswick”.
He had finished school and was joining his father and brothers as a farmer. The 1914 Victorian Postal Directory has an entry for
“BOURKE JAMES J FARMER BOOSEY”
It was while playing the football that he loved that James Bourke suffered a severe head injury that was to affect the rest of his life. The injury caused a degree of brain damage, and James lived the rest of his life at Melbourne’s Mont Park Asylum.
Sister Veronica Lonergan was Jame’s niece, and she wrote of him:
“ My mother Ellen was James' sister, and often visited him and I, too, once went with her. He was a gentle person, and worked out in the gardens. He could have been released, but the authorities thought it would be too much of a trauma to fit into the outside world again. He was buried in Fawkner Cemetery from our home in Brunswick”.
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