Burns Philp

Burns Philp
Company typeShell company
IndustryShipping
PredecessorBast Edit this on Wikidata
FoundedApril 1883
FounderJames Burns and Robert Philp
FateCashed up
Headquarters,
Australia
OwnerGraeme Hart
ParentRank Group

Burns Philp Building, Bridge Street, Sydney, built in 1901 to the design of Arthur Anderson of A.L. & G. McCredie & Anderson

Burns Philp (properly Burns, Philp & Co, Limited) was a major Australian shipping line and merchant that operated in the South Pacific. When the well-populated islands around New Guinea were targeted for blackbirding in the 1880s, a new rush for labour from these islands began. James Burns and Robert Philp purchased several well-known blackbirding ships to quickly exploit the human resource in this region, and Burns Philp entered the slave trade. The company ended its involvement in blackbirding in 1886.[1][2] In later years the company was a major player in the food manufacturing business. Since its delisting from the Australian Securities Exchange in December 2006 and the subsequent sale of its assets, the company has mainly become a cashed up shell company. It is wholly owned by Graeme Hart's Rank Group (not to be confused with the British company of the same name).

  1. ^ Docker, Edward W. (1970). The Blackbirders, The Recruiting of South Seas Labour for Queensland, 1863-1907. Angus and Robertson. pp. 43, 174–175, 191, 214, 219, 261. ISBN 978-0-207-12038-1.
  2. ^ Davis, Emelda (3 June 2015). "'Blackbirding' shame yet to be acknowledged in Australia". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 September 2020.