Richard Bourke

General Sir Richard Bourke was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelong Whig (liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convicts and helped bring forward the ending of penal transportation to Australia. In this, he faced strong opposition from the landlord establishment and its press. He approved a new settlement on the Yarra River, and named it Melbourne, in honour of the incumbent British prime minister, Lord Melbourne.