Above: Page from the baptismal registers showing the baptism in 1848 of Margaret Bourke.
My great-great grandmother, Margaret Bourke, was born to parents Patrick Bourke and Bridget Corbett on January 10, 1848, but was not baptised until almost a year later, on January 4, 1849. She was their first daughter, and followed sons James and John. Her place of birth was always thought to be Melbourne, prior to her parents moving to the Kilmore district, but her death certificate stated Mansfield.The abode of her parents on the above certificate is so difficult to read that I can't make it out.
I thought this discrepency warranted further investigation, so I purchased online the birth certificates of those children that Paddy and Margaret registered ( several of their nine children were never registered, including my great-grandmother, Bridget, and her siblings Michael, Edward and Margaret). The certificate of eldest son John in 1871 did not clear anything up...the quality of the certificate makes the birthplace of the mother difficult to read. It looks like "Margaret Bourke, formerly Bourke, aged 23, born at Devils River, Victoria." This location makes sense, as there is a location near Mansfield and Delatite called Devils River.
The birth certificate of second child, Patrick Francis Bourke,born 1872, states only that his mother was born in Victoria. The certificates for the next children in line, Bridget, Michael and Edward, are missing, but I have found the certificate for William Bourke in 1884, and it states that his 37 year old mother Margaret Bourke had been born at Delatite, Victoria. I have found no certificate for seventh child Margaret, but for Mary and John born in 1889 and 1890 respectively, Margaret Bourke's birthplace was 'Delatite'.
This information places a whole new spin on the movements of Margaret's parents when they arrived in Australia from county Tipperary. Her mother, Bridget Corbett, arrived in Melbourne in October of 1841 on board the ship 'Lysander' with her brother Michael Corbett. She was aged about 20, and Michael about 23.
It is unsure which ship her future husband Patrick Burke/Bourke arrived on, as there were several of the correct age arriving in Melbourne between 1840-1841. This includes two Patrick Bourkes on board the 'Lysander' in 1841...one aged 23 and one aged 28 ( birth years 1818 and 1813 approximately). There were also two young men named Patrick Burke on board the ship 'Duchess of Northumberland' in 1841- 26 years old and 18. I am not sure if the correct ship will ever be identified, as there seems to be no definite means of sorting one one Patrick Bourke from each of the other candidates.
Whatever the case, Bridget Corbett and Patrick Bourke were married at St. Francis Catholic Church, Melbourne, on April 24, 1843. Both had been residing at Newtown at the time of their marriage.Their first child John was born in Newtown on January 25, 1844.
Newtown was the name given in Melbourne's early history for the areas now known as Fitzroy and Collingwood.
Second child James was born at Eastern Hill on September 7, 1845. The "emelbourne.net.au" site provided the following information about Eastern Hill:
"Surveyor Robert Hoddle's street grid, aligned to the Yarra River, had as its horizontal bookends Batmans Hill at the western or Spencer Street end, and Eastern Hill to the east past Spring Street. More a rise than an eminence, in the town's early topography Eastern Hill was a pretty wooded hill, already becoming fashionable by 1840, and soon covered with neat cottages. At a distance from the commercial western hub of the town, East Melbourne would develop as the dormitory of professional Melbourne in the decades following the 1850s gold rush. "
It was over two years later that third child Margaret Bourke was born at Delatite, over 200 km north-east of Melbourne, located in a wide valley surrounded by mountain ranges.
It would be six long years before another child of Patrick and Bridget Bourke would be baptised, and no clues to tell us where the family was in the interim. Bridget Bourke was baptised at Kilmore on February 8, 1854, having been born on January 21st of the same year.
Six years is a very long period to go without children being born, and I actually believe that Bridget Corbett Bourke suffered a series of still births or similar during this period. In 1857, at the time of her son Timothy Bourke’s birth, his mother registered the event and told the Registrar that she had “four boys, 2 girls living; deceased 2 boys, 2 girls”.
When Patrick Bourke recorded the birth of his son, Patrick, in 1861, he described the four deceased children as being “three boys and one girl”. This discrepancy suggests that the babies were still born or died very soon after birth, and perhaps were not even named. No official trace has been found of these four babies, except for their mention on their brothers’ birth certificates.
The birth certificate of the last child, Nicholas, named his siblings as "John 20; James 18; Margaret 16; Bridget 14; Thomas 10; Edward 7 and Patrick 2." Their father Patrick Bourke gave the information, and in true father style, has totally mixed up the ages, and even the name of one child. The ages should have read " John 19; James 18; Margaret 15; Bridget 9; Thomas 8; Timothy ( not 'Edward') 6 and Patrick 2".
The early history of the Delatite district may help explain why Patrick Bourke and his young family were there in the 1840s.
The first white settlers to the Mansfield area during the squatting explosion of the late 1830's. Because there was no pasture improvement, large runs were needed to run profitable numbers of livestock, and squatters were always in search of good grazing land. In 1838 a company was formed in Scotland headed by the Marquis of Ailsa, and also included George Watson and a lawyer named Alexander Hunter Snr. In 1839 Watson and Alex Hunter Jnr. were sent as company representatives to take up land in Tasmania. However, they were quickly attracted to Port Phillip where they found good land at Keilor, and subsequently at 'Ballowra' at Seven Creeks near Euroa. Later in 1839 it is reported that an employee, Andrew Ewan, was despatched from 'Ballowra' to search for strayed horses. He crossed the Strathbogie Range, came down Merton Creek, found the horses, but more importantly recognised a green lush valley fed by some good streams. Immediately John Hunter and Hunter Campbell came to check out the location. The legend has it that they camped overnight below the Paps, close to the junction of the Delatite River and Brankeet Creek, and at night were so frightened by sounds of a corroboree being conducted nearby, that they called the spot Devil's River. As 'Ballowra' was already overstocked, the Hunters moved cattle and horses to this new run which they called 'Wappan' (after the Aboriginal name for the Delatite River, Wappang). By 1846 several other squatters had moved into Devil's River country including Chenery and Goodman on the other side of the Delatite River; David Waugh in the Piries area; Edward Bell a friend of the Hunters at Mimamaluke south of Mr Waugh's run; Wardrop & Clarke of Change; W.F. Arundel of Barjarg, (a cousin of the Hunters).
Bridget Corbett Bourke's brother, Michael Corbett, worked at Seven Creeks Station at Euroa after initially working at Woodstock near Kilmore ( he was living here in 1849 when he married Mary Wardle, also of Woodstock). There was also a report from an 1841 immigrant who wrote of the fellow passengers on his ship: “Many of the immigrants were under engagement to Hunter and Watson, the managers of the Marquis of Ailsa's station, at Mount Battery, Delatite, or, as then termed., Devil's River.” This 28th day of July, in 1841, I arrived in Melbourne per ship 'William Abrams', Hamlin commander, from Greenock, after a voyage of about 122 days. "
- from 'Reminiscence of a Pioneer' By J Wood-Beilby
This may all tie up with the reason why my Bourkes were living in the Delatite region around the late 1840s, prior to them moving to Bylands in the Kilmore district and finally Pine Lodge near Shepparton.
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