Edward arrived from Belgium via Plymouth in Melbourne in 1852. From there he moved to Sydney where he became a clerk in the Bank of Australasia in 1853. He was subsequently appointed manager of the Brisbane branch in 1860. Ten years later he was transferred to Sandhurst (Bendigo) but in May 1872 became general manager of the new Queensland National Bank in Brisbane. The Queensland National Bank dominated the finances of Queensland until almost the end of the century.

Drury followed a vigorous lending policy to assist the rapidly developing primary industries in the state. The bank had a meteoric rise. As early as 1880 it had over thirty branches and held more than forty per cent of the total deposits and advances in Queensland. It had offices in Sydney. In 1881 construction of a new head Office in Brisbane was completed; so magnificent were its stained glass and polished cedar that it became known as “Drury’s Temple” (and is still standing at the corner of Queen and Creek Streets).