Michael Lee Bourke

  General Notes:

Tim Hill notes:
Michale was born in Melbourne in 1847 to Irish labouring parents, and was one of six children. He most likely spent the first nine yesrs of his life living in Melbourne in poor conditions.
However, by the age of 26 he was working as a miner in Parkes where he married Susannah Nicholson, the daughter of a Scottish carpenter. She gave birth to a son on the day they married.
Another four children were to follow, and by 1877 he and his wife were the first wardsman and matron of the Parkes District Hospital.
Michael and his wife moved to Stannifer where he became publican of the Royal Hotel. However, this was probably the wrong sort of work for Michael - within 2 years he was dead of alcoholic poisoning at the age of 36.
He and Susannah Alletta Nicholson were first matron and first wardsman of the Parkes District Hospital. This was a very small affair with no more than six male beds and four female beds. These appointments may have been helped by Susannah's sister's husband High Sutherland being president of the hospital. It isn't known how long they held the positions, but by March 1881 the hospital was looking for people for the positions again and offerring to pay £75 per annum. It was customary for these roles to filled be a husband and wife, and for them to be offerred the roles jointly. However, it is open to question how effective Susannah was at the role, considering she had two children within two and half years of the opening of the hospital.
Michael and Susannah were likely affected by a fire which hit their hotel on 27 February 1880:
"COPE'S CREEK, TINGHA.
February 21.,
He have for a long time been in a sort of semi-stagnation, and it is only lately; through the rise of our staple produce, "tin", that we have become aware that Tingha is destined to play an important part as thé centre of a large tin producing district. Several miners are now prospecting for new runs of tin, and we trust they will soon receive a rich reward.
Yesterday forenoon, a cry of fire was heard, which threw our usual quiet and phlegmatic inhabitants into a state of excitement and activity, and it was soon found that the stables and shed of Bourke's Royal Hotel, and of McLean Brothers' stores were on fire. At one time it was thought the whole town of Tingha must succumb to the flames, as several buildings, even so faraway as Sullivan's Commercial Hotel, and May and Groves' butcher's shop, had caught fire on their bark roofs. As it was, willing hands were soon on the spot, and the fire was fortunately conflned to the stables of McLean Brothers and Bourke's. We believe that Mclean Bros., who lost several tons of hay, blankets, and other goods, are insured, but Mr. Bourke, of the Royal Hotel, is a heavy loser..."¹⁰
The hotel was most likely operating from a rude slab hut. Pubs where:
"the meeting places where there was always some miner celebrating his luck or drowning his sorrows at the lamp-lit bars and where there were frequent fights to settle a score or prove a point. In the evenings, mellow Irish voices and rich Welsh voices could be heard raised in song, with the music of bagpipes, concertinas, fiddles, flutes mouth organs or tambourines drifting from dimly lit tents and huts - music that drifted on the night air to mingle with the baying and barking of dogs and the grunting & squealing of pigs."

  Noted events in his life were:

• connection. ¹¹⁰⁴

Michael married Susannah Alleta Nicholson, daughter of Donald Nicholson and Margaret Francis (Fanny) Brown, on 26 Dec 1874 in Parkes, NSW Australia.¹¹⁰⁴ (Susannah Alleta Nicholson was born on 16 May 1850 in Bowning, Southern Tablelands, NSW Australia, christened on 16 Jun 1850 in Yass, NSW Australia and died on 31 Aug 1907 in Rockdale, Sydney, NSW Australia.). The cause of her death was abdominal cancer.

  Marriage Notes:

Tim Hill notes:
James was apparently born on the same day as his parent's wedding (although it is not known which of these two events happened first on this rather momentous day). James was to be the first of four children born to Michael and Susannah, but did not live much beyond his first birthday
.