He passed away on February 10, aged 84 years.
Professor Bourke joined Monash University in 1977 as the first full-time Indigenous Director of the former Centre for Research into Aboriginal Affairs (now Monash Indigenous Centre), a position he held until 1981.
He was part of a new group of emergent Indigenous professionals dedicated to changing the future for all those from Indigenous backgrounds.
He also served two terms on the Monash University Council and was the inaugural Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council, the latter from which he retired in 2018.
In 1999 Professor Bourke was appointed a Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, and in 2001 he became Adjunct Professor.
Professor Bourke was an outstanding theorist in Aboriginal education and a man of deep integrity.
He took a long view of history, identity and identification, once stating ‘everybody has got a history… you may not know what it is’.
In 1978 he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his efforts in providing leadership and support to Aboriginal welfare.
In 1998 he was appointed Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia.
Monash awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws in 2016.
The Colin and Eleanor Bourke Indigenous Postgraduate Scholarship honours Professor Bourke’s dedication to Monash University’s human rights initiatives, and that of his wife, Wergaia/Wamba Wamba Elder Professor Eleanor Bourke.
The scholarship supports the ongoing education of Indigenous students undertaking a postgraduate coursework degree.
The Monash University community acknowledges with deep gratitude the life and work of Professor Bourke, and offers its sincere sympathy to his wife and extended family for their great loss.
Well known local identity Brian Keenan was in the same grade at Sacred Heart Primary School Yarrawonga as a much younger Colin Bourke.
“He was a nice kid, a good athlete and his older sister Imelda was in the next grade higher to him,” the retired real estate agent and a past Mayor of Moira Shire said.
“Colin came into my real estate office about 1990 and we had a good chat. He told me he was into indigenous teaching and he certainly carved out a great career for himself.”
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