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This article is about the NSW governor, for the Irish statesman see Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB

General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB (Dublin, 4 May 1777 – 13 August 1855, Limerick) was Governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Australia between 1831 and 1837.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Bourke was educated at Westminster and studied law at Christ Church College, Oxford. He joined the army in 1798, serving in the Netherlands with the Duke of York before a posting in South America in 1807 where he participated in the siege and storming of Montevideo. He was promoted major-general in 1821.

In recognition of his duty to the crown, Bourke was first appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the Eastern District of the Cape of Good Hope before his appointment succeeding Sir Ralph Darling as Governor of New South Wales in 1831.

A statue of Richard Bourke stands outside the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney.

Bourke proved to be an able, if controversial, Governor. Appalled by the excessive punishments doled out to convicts, Bourke passed 'The Magistrates Act', which limited the sentence a magistrate could pass to fifty lashes (previously there was no such limit). Furious magistrates and employers petitioned the crown against this interference with their legal rights, fearing that a reduction in punishments would cease to provide enough deterrence to the convicts.

Bourke, however, continued to create controversy within the colony by combating the inhumane treatment handed out to convicts, including limiting the number of convicts each employer was allowed to seventy, as well as granting rights to freed convicts, such as allowing the acquisition of property and service on juries. It has been argued that the abolishment of convict transportation to Australia in 1840 can be attributable to the actions of Bourke.

Emboldened by these changes, Bourke abolished the distinction of the Anglican Church as the state church of New South Wales, declaring each religious community on equal footing before the law. He also increased spending on education and was credited as the first governor to publish satisfactory accounts of public receipts and expenditure.

In 1837, the year of his promotion to lieutenant-general, he named the town of Melbourne after Viscount Melbourne the U.K. Prime Minister. Bourke Street in Melbourne's central business district and the town of Bourke, New South Wales were named after him, in turn. There is a statue of Bourke outside the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney which records his accomplishments as Governor in florid detail.

He was promoted general in 1851. Bourke died near Limerick, Ireland in 1855.