Following his mother's death and father's remarriage, Edmond Bourke was raised at St Vincent's Orphanage, at Nudgee. During World War I, he initially served in New Guinea with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force and subsequently in France and Belgium as a signaller with the 49th Battalion AIF. He was awarded the Military Medal for his actions during the Battle of Broodseinde in October 1917, but was later badly wounded at Villers-Bretonneux where he lost his right arm during an artillery bombardment. Following his return to Australia Bourke initially took up share farming near Cooroy, where he married and raised a family. He later opened a photography studio at Toowoomba. Bourke's poems all date from his time in the AIF during World War I. They were published in a biographical article on him which appeared in the Brisbane Courier-Mail in October 1993.
