Clifton Hills Station

Clifton Hills Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the far north of South Australia.

Description
It is situated approximately 132 km south of Birdsville and 200 km north west of Innamincka. The property encompasses part of the Sturt Stony Desert and is located on the Birdsville Track and is the largest holding along the track with an area of 17000 km2.

Goyder Lagoon, the origin of the Warburton River and the end of the Diamantina River and Eyre Creek, lies on the edge of the property.

History
The station was established in 1876. In 1881 the property was owned by J. H. Howie who had 1,000 cattle overlanded from Aramac Station. By 1883 the property was owned by Andrew and J. Broad who were routinely sending cattle to market in Adelaide. By 1891 the property was still owned by the Broads but managed by Mr. Turnbull. At this stage the property occupied an area of 4000 sqmi and was stocked with 14,000 head of cattle.

In 1904 the manager was H.C. Trew who reported that the Georgina and Diamantina Rivers had emptied themselves onto the plains of the station covering come 2099 sqmi and the property was carrying 2,000 head of cattle. Clifton Hills was sold by Elder Smith and Co on behalf of the then proprietors in early July 1912. The purchasers, G and E.A. Brooks, had substantial existing holdings, including Buckland Park at Two Wells, north of Adelaide. At the time, the property was described as consisting of 3566 sqmi and carrying 9,000 head of cattle, 168 horses and being sold on a walk-in / walk out basis.

The Beltana Pastoral Company sold the property Kanowna Station to G. and E. A. Brooks who already owned Clifton Hills, which adjoins Kanowna, in 1914.

In 1923 both Clifton Hills and nearby Kanowana Station were still owned by G and E. A. Brooks. The holdings had a combined area of 7000000 acre and were stocked with approximately 20,000 head of shorthorn cattle.

In 1930 the manager was Norman Gurr who reported that the rivers had flooded, that largest floods seen in the area since 1917.

Hector Brooks owned the property in 1960 and was the first to sell cattle at Gepps Cross using the beef roads concept. The cattle, a consignment of 53 bullocks, were transported by truck down the Birdsville Track to the railhead at Marree. This was the first time road transport had been used along the track. The land occupying the extent of the Clifton Hills pastoral lease was gazetted as a locality in April 2013 under the name 'Clifton Hills Station' with the word 'Station' included to "prevent duplication of locality name within Australia.''

The property was offered for sale in 2018, reported to be for the first time in 60 years. It was described as the second-largest cattle station on Earth (after Anna Creek Station), at 16510 km2 stocked with an estimated 18,000 head of cattle, and licensed for up to 21,500. It consists of 1500 km2 annual flood area from the Diamantina River, balanced with gibber plains with creeks, and soft sandhill country. The selling owners were David Harvey, Charles Simpson and Katherine Hartley. Clifton Hills Station encompassed four pastoral leases in northeastern South Australia and southwestern Queensland. In late November 2018, it emerged that the station would be bought by a partnership including Viv Oldfield who already owned the adjoining Pandie Pandie Station and also bought Maryvale Station earlier in 2018. The purchase included 18,000 certified organic cattle. His cattle enterprise runs about 50,000 cattle on a collection of stations including Andado Station, Horseshoe Bend Station, and New Crown Station.