Colonial Australia and Trading Voyages
Barnet Burns worked as a house servant for William Henry Mackenzie of the Bank of Australia. He commenced employment at about the time of the Bank of Australia robbery on 14 September 1828. Burns also worked with other prominent businessmen of colonial Sydney who supported Burns' application for a land grant in May 1830. A plot of 10 acres (40,000 m2) was granted at Tambourine Bay on the Lane Cove River.
Burns joined the brig Elizabeth, captain Brown on a trading voyage to New Zealand departing Sydney 23 July 1830. During his time in New Zealand Burns learned the Māori language. The Elizabeth returned to Sydney on 5 January 1831 and soon afterwards Burns appeared before the Police Magistrates where he was convicted of gross assault. A fellow seaman on the Elizabeth, James Nance, had accused Burns of being a convict and Burns had reacted by leading about the decks by his proboscis, like a pig by the snout. Burns was ordered to enter into his own recognizances to the amount of £10, to preserve the peace for twelve months.
In January 1831 the Sydney merchant Joseph Barrow Montefiore had just returned from a voyage to New Zealand and required flax traders to be located at various parts of New Zealand. Barnet Burns agreed to return to New Zealand to trade with the Māori for phormium tenax, a New Zealand flax used mainly for rope materials. On 13 February 1831 Burns departed Sydney on the schooner Darling, captain William Stewart, with various items of trade including clothing, leather goods, muskets, gunpowder, tobacco and pipes, ironmongery, hardware and rum. The Darling stopped at several places on the west coast of the North Island including Kawhia, Mokau, Taranaki and Kapiti Island before proceeding through Cook Strait to the east coast where Burns was landed at the Mahia peninsula. The Darling continued onto Poverty Bay where John Williams Harris was landed on 16 May 1831. Harris and Burns were among the first European residents in the area.
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