 A long-term Toowoomba councillor, he later served as Mayor of Toowoomba from 1997 to 2000.Bourke was born in the Brisbane suburb of Nundah, and was educated at St Patrick's College in Shorncliffe and the University of Queensland.A pharmacist outside politics, he worked in Brisbane from 1959 to 1966 and in London from 1966 to 1969, before settling in Toowoomba in 1970.