Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Bourke was born in 1886 at Talmalmo in New South Wales. He was one of twelve children to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane (née Connors) Bourke. Only one child, Alfred, would not reach adulthood. William attended the Granya State School (no. 2250). After completing school he worked as a labourer in the district.

William enlisted in Melbourne on the 4th of October 1916. On his attestation papers there is a question that asks if the person had ever been rejected as unfit for His Majesty’s Service. William answered that he had been and that the reason was that he had a bad cold at the time. He was allocated the Regimental Number 2285 and placed in the 4th Reinforcements for the 37th Infantry Battalion. His initial training would have taken place at Puckapunyal near Seymour. On the 9th of September he was admitted to the Isolation Camp at Ascot Racecourse in Ascot Vale. This camp was established due to the outbreak of serious diseases in numerous military camps across Victoria. William would have had to undergo daily throat swabs to check for any signs of disease. The camps were closed, so no visitors or visiting outside the camp was permitted. However, a weekly high tea was provided by the ladies of the Cheer-up Brigades. These groups, originally begun in South Australia in 1915, undertook a variety of work such as fund-raising and the provision of food for soldiers. At Ascot Vale the ladies  would deliver the high tea to the guards at the front gate. This is no record to explain why William was admitted to the camp but he was able to return to his unit on October the 3rd. 

Almost three weeks later William and his unit embarked on HMAT A17 Port Lincoln at the Port of Melbourne. When the transport arrived at Freetown, Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa, the unit was transferred to HMAT A30 Borda. On the 9th day of 1917 William disembarked at Plymouth on the English south coast.

After three months training in England with the 10th Training Battalion, William proceeded overseas to France, finally being taken on strength with the 37th Battalion, 10th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division, on the 3rd of April 1917. Two months later, the battalion fought its first major battle at Messines, in Belgium.

On the first day of October the battalion was in camp at Winnezeele in France, organising and making preparations for the forthcoming attack on Broodseinde. They left camp the following day travelling in motor lorries to Ypres. From there they marched to the area beyond the Menin Gate and camped for the night. The attack was to begin at 6 a.m. on the 4th with the battalion’s approach march commencing at 0945 hours. During the initial stage of the attack the Australian troops were heavily shelled on their start line with a seventh of their number becoming casualties even before the attack began. When the attacking troops started their trek across no-man's land they were confronted by a line of German troops coming towards them. In a quirk of planning, the Germans had chosen the same morning and time to launch an offensive of their own. The Australians prevailed, gaining all their objectives along the Broodseinde Ridge. The cost to the 37th Battalion was 49 men killed and 175 wounded. Amongst those killed was Private William Bourke. 

William has no known grave. However, he is remembered on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, the Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) in Flanders, Belgium, the Granya War Memorial, and the Towong Shire Boer War and WW1 Roll of Honour. For his service during the First World War, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Two of William’s younger brothers also enlisted and served on the Western Front. Frederick and Nathan were both wounded during their service and both returned home to Australia after the war