Burns Philp

Burns Philp

Company type	Shell company
Industry	Shipping
Predecessor	Bast
Founded	April 1883
Founder	James Burns and Robert Philp
Fate	Cashed up
Headquarters	Sydney, New South Wales , Australia
Owner	Graeme Hart
Parent	Rank Group

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).