After their honeymoon, they headed to China to found their first mission house in Canton. They had five children over the course of their marriage. Part of his job was to train native people to be able to go out into villages to spread the gospel. First he had to learn the language, something that took him three years to learn.
In 1937, Peggy was on a trip out of China, when the Japanese invaded China. She was not allowed to return but needed to stay in Hong Kong with the two children she had taken along with her. Living under Japanese occupation was a very difficult time for Bunton, he had to learn to rely on God to supply his every need since the Japanese simply wouldn't. Chinese Christians helped to supply him with food. Overtime he took a furlough, retrieved his wife and children and went back to Australia. When the furlough was over his wife remained in Australia while he went back to Canton.
Pearl Harbour happened. He ended up in a refugee camp. He ended up being traded for a Japanese prisoner. He ended up working in a Melbourne Church until the end of the war and his ability to safety return to his work in China. He served there from 1947-1950 when increasing tensions forced him to leave China again. He worked in for a good while in Australia until he was invited back by the Chinese church to assist in their work in Hong Kong.
The Bunton's lived by the motto "Where God guides, he provides".