By January 1881, James Burns was operating the steamer Corea between Sydney and Normanton, sometimes calling in at Burketown [REF].
By September 1884, Burns Philp had taken over a number of small businesses in Burketown,[REF] and in October, builder Andrew Murphie was engaged in building a large warehouse for Burns Philp in Normanton which was claimed to be the company's largest in Queensland outside of Brisbane.