[4] From late 1864, he worked for the Roebuck Bay Company (RBC) at the first, albeit short-lived station in the Kimberley, at Cape Villaret.
[5][6] After the collapse of the RBC, Burges established Andover sheep station, on the upper Harding River, in the Pilbara.
At the time, stations in North-West Australia were staffed almost entirely by local Aboriginal people who were paid in kind with "rations" (food and other goods) rather than money.
[7] In 1871, while droving sheep from the Pilbara to Geraldton, Burges shot and killed an Aboriginal man known as "Mackle-yell", in a dispute over a stolen saddle.
The dismissal was appealed to Secretary of State for the Colonies Lord Kimberley, who reinstated Landor.