Iffley Station

James Earl arrived in Queensland with his brothers William and Thomas. They originally took up the Yacamunda Station on the Belyando River in the Bowen area, later taking up the Iffley Station in 1864.

The following year they were affected by a major flood. The brothers sought refuge from the floodwaters in nearby trees while the floods carried off their entire stock. They subsequently returned to Yacamunda.^[4]

In 1884 the 997-square-mile (2,582 km²) property was sold by Messrs Walsh, Brown and Walsh to D. F. MacKay along with the 4,400 head of cattle it was stocked with.^[5] Mackay placed the station on the market in 1894. At this time it was 801 square miles (2,075 km²) and was stocked with 22,000 head of cattle and 166 horses.^[1]

The property was placed on the market by the trustees of the estate of D. F. MacKay in 1904. Stocked with about 15,000 Durham cattle and 187 horses the 934 square miles (2,419 km²) station included managers house, men's quarters store house, cattle yards and two recently sunk bores.^[6]

In 1931 the property was owned by Kidman and Angliss,^[7] who remained in charge until at least 1942.^[8]

The property was acquired by Don McDonald, the eldest son of Jim McDonald, in 1979 along with Rutland Plains.^[9] Iffley is currently owned by MDH, still owned by the McDonald family, and is one of the companies 11 cattle stations throughout Queensland.^[10] It is managed by Clint and Heidi Smith who have been there since 2003.^[3]

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