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PO Box 531, Essendon 3040

This page composed on 9 November 2004
Updated 26 December 2008


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Following a successful inaugural West Bourke Local and Family History Fair in October 2004, a meeting was held on  6 November 2004 of regional historical societies which had participated in the 2004 Fair.   It was proposed that the West Bourke Heritage Association be formed to operate the Fair on a regular basis in the western suburbs of Melbourne.  Below is the Statement of Purposes for the West Bourke Heritage Association.

The meeting held on 5 March 2005 approved the Draft Rules of Incorporation and the Statement of purposes.   The Statement of Purposes is reproduced below.

The following persons make up the committee for 2007:

Lenore Frost               (Essendon Historical Society Inc): President
Christine Laskowski (Keilor Cemetery Research Project): Vice President
Denise Donnan          (Essendon Historical Society Inc): Secretary
Lorraine Siska            (Hotham History Project Inc) Minutes Secretary
Barry Thomson          (Keilor Historical Society Inc): Treasurer
Anne Best                    (Sunshine Historical Society Inc)
Francesca Folk           (Brunswick Community History Group Inc)


We use our "My Connected Community" (mc2) to notify events in our region. See at the bottom of the page for a link to mc2, a Victorian government project operated by Vicnet.



Statement of Purposes
1.      To host a regular local and family history fair in the region;

2.      To encourage and assist member organisations to carry out their individual aims and purposes;

3.      To provide a forum for the interchange of information among member bodies of the Association by way of meetings, lectures, discussions, courses, workshops, excursions and exhibitions;

4.      To support members to undertake historical research into places, sites and objects of historical importance and, where the results of such research so warrant, to assist the preservation and conservation of such places, sites and objects;

5.      To participate in or support activities aimed at the preservation or conservation of places, sites, and objects considered by the Association to be of historical importance;

6.      To print, publish and circulate, including by electronic means, periodicals, books, newsletters and other publications to support the purposes of the Association;

7.      To further the interests of members by advertising in the press, by circulars, by publication of books, leaflets, periodicals, websites, pamphlets or literature of a similar nature relating wholly to the purposes and benefits of the Association and by granting prizes, rewards and donations;

8.      To invest the monies of the Association not immediately required on such investments as may from time to time be determined by the committee of the Association.


What is West Bourke?

West Bourke was an Electoral District of Victoria from 1856 to 1904.  It was represented by many  well-known politicians such as Alfred Deakin, John Carre Riddell and John Thomas Smith.  See here for a full list.

Alfred Plumpton composed a musical galop, entitled "West Bourke Plate Galop", in the period 1878-1882, apparently in honour of a greyhound racing event. Presumably it was held somewhere in the West Bourke electoral district.

West Bourke Electoral District covered the following areas:

Altona, Ascot Vale, Broadmeadows, Brunswick, Coburg, Essendon, Fawkner, Flemington, Footscray, Gisborne, Keilor, Kensington, Maribyrnong, Melton, Moonee Ponds, Mount Macedon, North Melbourne, St Albans, Sunbury, Sunshine, Sydenham, Werribee, Williamstown.

Index to the West Bourke Electoral Roll 1850

We've extended the boundaries to include Brunswick, Coburg and Fawkner, towns whose history is parallel with the other suburban parts of the West Bourke district.

Here is a map which shows the old electoral division of West Bourke.


For any enquiries, please email us at westbourkev@hotmail.com

Join our "My Connected Community" group to receive automatic notices of news and activities  of the West Bourke Heritage Association.  Click on the logo below



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