Tim & Margaret Bourke

Tim and Margaret Bourke have long been interested in the game of bridge. Tim has written about bridge since the early 1970s and is completing an extensive bibliography of published sources on the history of the game. Margaret has represented Australia at international bridge tournaments as part of the Australian women's team.

Tim first began collecting material on the game around 1970, and in the intervening years the Bourkes have assembled a collection of over 5000 items on bridge and contract bridge. Their collection is considered to be the largest of its kind (in the English language) in the world.

In late 2008, they made the first of several donations of their collection to the State Library. It currently comprises around 3000 books and almost 150 bound volumes of magazines, and is held in the Library’s Rare Books collection.