 Following the brutal killing of 28 unarmed Aboriginal Australians in the Myall Creek massacre on 10 June 1838, Burton presided over the second trial in which a jury convicted 7 colonists of the murder of two children and an adult referred to as Charley.In 1844 Burton was appointed a judge at Madras, leaving New South Wales on 6 July 1844, three months before the death of Chief Justice Sir James Dowling.Burton carried out his judicial duties at Madras in a capable way and on his retirement returned to Sydney in 1857.