FLOTILLA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIAN SHIPPING LINES IMAGES POSTCARDS PHOTOGRAPHS EPHEMERA OF JOHN BURKE and Co Ltd Commenced 1880 JOHN BURKE (1842-1919) and JOHN EDWARD BURKE (1871-1947) were shipmasters and ship-owners on the Australian coast When he first arrived from the Northern Hemisphere, John Burke jumped ship, worked briefly as a pilot, then joined the Australasian Steam Navigation Co., sailing as a deck-hand aboard the steamships Queensland and Telegraph In 1864 he joined a partnership of A G Robinson and W H Smith in the ownership of the steamer 'You Yangs', that partnership also trading as the Melbourne Steam Ship Company. 1883 saw the main player (W H Smith) in that Company exit the business partnership and the company dissolved. Since, and after working for a time on Queensland river and bay vessels, Burke secured a master's licence restricted to sheltered waters, and commanded the Fanny, trading to the Logan and Albert rivers for Honeyman & Sons. In the Logan flood of 22 January 1887, Burke and his crew worked indefatigably to save over fifty lives and earned a public testimonial. When his employers closed down that year, he bought the Louisa from them and traded first to Ipswich and the Logan and Albert rivers and later into Moreton Bay. The Louisa brought the first relief supplies to Ipswich after the 1893 flood. Burke acquired other small vessels and lighters for his fleet and in the early twentieth century added coal-bunkering plant. About 1910 he sold the lighters and bunkering plant and bought the Porpoise to establish a coastal service. He later added the Gundiah and the paddle-steamer Adonis for the Maryborough-Townsville timber trade. He retired in 1915 but served as a director of John Burke Ltd until his death from pneumonic influenza on 3 June 1919. He was buried in Toowong cemetery with Roman Catholic rites. John Edward Burke was born on 8 January 1871 in Brisbane. Educated at state schools, he began work as a plumber's assistant, then served as a deck-hand on the Fanny and, probably from 1887, shared ownership of John Burke & Son. When his father retired, John Edward took over management of the company. Services were extended along the Queensland coast and in 1921 to the Gulf of Carpentaria, which was soon described by residents as 'Burke's flaming ocean'. Difficulties created by waterfront strikes and cost increases in the 1920s and 1930s were compounded by the loss of two ships. The Douglas Mawson, chartered from the Queensland government, disappeared during a Gulf cyclone in March 1923 and twelve crewmen and five passengers perished; the company-owned Dorrigo sank off Double Island Point on 2 April 1926 with a loss of twenty-two lives. The paintwork of his ships, originally Irish green, was changed to black with green funnels after repeated black bans by striking unions. However, the firm held the respect of its men who argued that 'they fed us well and treated us well'; many employees became shareholders. He would have no truck with women, even in his office, because no lady would stand his language. He saw a big future for the company in promoting Gulf settlement and became a provisional director of a proposed Karumba Co-operative Meat and Canning Co. The plan proved abortive but, when eventually in 1934 Shand's Gulf Meatworks were constructed, Burke's supplied the wharf at Karumba where the meatworks continued to operate until World War II. Burke died on 8 October 1947 at his home at Kangaroo Point and was buried in Toowong cemetery with Roman Catholic rites. His estate was valued for probate at £48,264. His son John Augustine (1896-1972) managed the company in his turn until it was taken over by the Dillingham Corporation in 1968. December 1989 receivers were appointed John Burke Ltd Sydney - Cooktown - Brisbane - Bundaberg - MacKay - Cairns - Thursday Island - Gulf of Carpentaria