The division was named after Robert O'Hara Burke, an explorer who led the Victorian expedition in 1860, the first white explorer to cross Australia from south to north.
[citation needed] The division was created in 1949 and replaced the similarly located and pronounced division of Bourke.
It was located in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, including Brunswick and Fitzroy.
[1] It was a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party.
[citation needed] It was abolished in 1955.