Australia
Burke migrated to Australia in 1853. He landed in Hobart, Tasmania but soon moved to Melbourne and on 1 April 1853 he joined the recently established Victoria police force. Initially he worked as Acting Inspector under the Chief Commissioner William Henry Fancourt Mitchell in the Parish of Jika Jika in the northern suburbs of Melbourne, but on 1 November 1853 he was appointed a magistrate, promoted to Police Inspector, and was posted to Carlsruhe. On 31 December 1853 he was promoted to District Inspector of the Ovens District and early in 1854 he moved to Beechworth to relieve Inspector Price.
After the death of his brother, James Thomas, in the Crimean War, Burke decided to enlist. He left Australia in March 1856 and returned to England. However peace was signed and the war had ended by the time Burke arrived in Liverpool in June 1856, and he returned to Victoria on the SS Marco Polo, arriving in Melbourne in December 1856.
He resumed his posting at Beechworth and from there attended the "Buckland Valley" riots near Bright against the Chinese gold miners in 1857. In November 1858 he was transferred to Castlemaine as Police Superintendent on £550 p.a. plus a groom and quarters at Broadoaks on Gingell Street.
After the South Australian explorer, John McDouall Stuart had reached the centre of Australia, the South Australian parliament offered a reward of £2,000 for the promotion of an expedition to cross the continent from south to north, generally following Stuart's route.
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