The BI and QA shipping agency was incorporated in London with a nominal capital of £120,000 consisting of shares of £1,000 each. It was to operate as a partnership with equal shares held by Mackinnon, Mackenzie, Gray Dawes and McIlwraith McEacharn, the latter now having opened an office in London.

The agency’s main business was to be that of steamship management, with their Head Office in Brisbane, to be Managing Agents in Australia for BI and the QSS. Burns Philp were appointed the main agents in Sydney. The first Directors were Duncan Mackinnon, of MM, Andrew McIlwraith of McIlwraith’s and George Mackenzie of Gray, Dawes.(1)

With the loss suffered by ASN, it was not long before it was brought to its knees and by November 1886 the end was near. At a special meeting in Sydney on 3rd December 1886 ASN’s Directors agreed to the offer of BI and QA.to purchase for the sum of £200,000 the existing fleet of ASN together with furniture and fittings.(2) This was put to the London Directors who met at 13 Austin Friars on Friday 11th March, 1887.(3) It is interesting to note that the minute book, recording this meeting, had already been embossed with the name 'Australasian United Steam Navigation Company’ even though the company itself was not incorporated until 12th March 1887. However the minutes of the meeting on 11th March records “copy of agreement received from Sydney dated 21st January 1887 for the sale of ASN to the British India and Queensland Agency for the sale of the fleet of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company to BI and QA was submitted.”(4) At the same meeting applications for thirty shares of £50 each had been received from, amongst others, William Mackinnon ( BI and MM), Thomas Sutherland (Chairman of P and O), P. Denny (Director of Union Steamship Co of New Zealand), and E.S. Dawes (of Gray Dawes).(5)

With the purchase of ASN and its fleet, Gray Dawes had cabled to Brisbane that the intention was to reorganise the fleet under the name of United Australian, which met with some resistance at first. (6) The directors of ASN, Bland and Munro, wanted the two companies, ASN and BI and QA kept separate, especially as McIlwraith McEacharn were not included in the new company, that because of their involvement in BI and QA, matters had to be handled very carefully. As from 21st January 1887 the ships in the ASN fleet would start to be handed over. They were to retain their existing funnel livery and flags, pending the formation of a company to manage them (7) and Burns Philp in Sydney would continue as the main agents there. On 12th March the Australasian United Steam Navigation Company was registered in London with BI and QA as overall managing agents.

The following week’s meeting saw confirmation of the allocation and payment of shares of £1,000 per allottee, shares would also be made available to the colonies, and in addition four new directors were appointed, W. Mackinnon (Chairman of BI), Thomas Sutherland, P. Denny and E.S. Dawes.(8) The sale of ASN was somewhat convoluted in that BI and QA Sydney (that is Burns Philp, the Sydney Managing Agents) had been requested by the parent company in London to purchase all the assets of ASN on London’s behalf. It was also decided to adopt, and to conduct the Sydney Agency in, the name of ‘Australasian United Steam Navigation Co’(AUSN).

This was the name by which the company would be known throughout Australia for the next seventy years. The sale of the company prompted a telegram from Brisbane, dated 15th March 1887, stating that it was “of utmost importance publish as soon as possible how many shares allotted Colonies stating each value”(9)

(1) N.L.McKellar, From Derby Round to Burketown, The A.U.S.N.Story, 56
(2) Pixley, ‘The History of the A.U.S.N.Co.Ltd’ 989
(3) Extract from AUSN Minute Book. 11th March 1887, Guildhall Library, London, Ms 27110-1 1887-
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid
(6) N.L.McKellar, From Derby Round to Burketown, The A.U.S.N.Story, 74
(7) Ibid, 76
(8) Extract from AUSN Minute Book, 14th March 1887.
(9) Ibid 21st March 1887