Richard Goldsmith Burges (4 December 1847 – 25 September 1905) was an Australian pastoralist and politician who served in both houses of the

Parliament of Western Australia The Parliament of Western Australia is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Western Australia, forming the legislative branch of the Government of Western Australia. The parliament consists of a lower house, the Legislative Ass ...

. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1894 to 1903, and then served in the Legislative Assembly from 1903 until his death. Burges was born in

York, Western Australia York is the oldest inland town in Western Australia, situated on the Avon River, east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, on Ballardong Nyoongar land,King, A and Parker, E: York, Western Australia's first inland town, Parker Print, 2003 p.3. and is ...

, to Vittoria (née Meares) and Samuel Evans Burges. His older half-brother,

Thomas Burges Thomas Burges (July 1830 – 7 August 1893) was an Australian pastoralist and politician who was a member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia on three occasions – from 1874 to 1878, from 1885 to 1887, and from 1890 until his deat ...

, was also a member of parliament, as were two of his uncles,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Lockier Burges. Burges eventually took over ''Tipperary'', his father's property near York, having earlier held various

leases A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

in the

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

. He was elected to the York Roads Board in 1882, and served until his death, including as chairman for a period. Burges entered parliament at the 1894 Legislative Council elections, as one of three members for the new East Province. He was re-elected in 1898, but resigned in March 1903 to contest a Legislative Assembly by-election for the seat of York, caused by the bankruptcy of

Frederick Monger Frederick Charles Monger (25 January 1863 – 15 November 1919) was an Australian businessman and politician who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1892 to 1903 and again from 1905 to 1914, representing the seat ...

.Richard Goldsmith Burges
– Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia. Retrieved 11 June 2016. Burges won the by-election, and was subsequently re-elected at the 1904 state election. He died in office in September 1905 (aged 57), having caught pneumonia while returning from a trip to the eastern states and then suffered heart failure."MR. R. G. BURGES, M.L.A."
'' The Daily News'', 26 September 1905. Burges had married Mona Phillips in 1878, with whom he had seven children. Both his father-in-law, Samuel Pole Phillips, and brother-in-law, Samuel James Phillips, were also members of parliament.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burges, Richard 1847 births 1905 deaths Australian pastoralists Australian people of Irish descent Deaths from pneumonia in South Australia Mayors of places in Western Australia Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council People from York, Western Australia 19th-century Australian businesspeople 19th-century Australian politicians Western Australian local councillors