 Like other counties in Victoria, it is subdivided into parishes.The county was named after General Sir Richard Bourke, the Governor of New South Wales between 1831 and 1837.It is bordered by the Werribee River in the west, the Great Dividing Range in the north, Port Phillip in the south, and by Dandenong Creek, a small part of the Yarra River, and the Plenty River in the east.