William Taylor (1818-1903) purchased nine runs, over around a decade from 1867, to form ‘Manfred’ Station. In 1867, he purchased the runs of Miparo of Manfred East and Miparo of Manfred West from Izett Stewart. In 1869, it was recorded that he had purchased Kilfera Block A from Charles Ryan. In 1876, Kilfera Block B, Kilfera Block E and Kilfera Block G runs were transferred to Taylor from James Graham. In the same year, Taylor obtained Darnick run, forfeited by Thomas Tenner for non-payment of rent; Kasserhill forfeited by Matthew Palmer and; Eildon run forfeited by J. H. Wheelwright.

‘Manfred’ Station’s ‘Kilfera blocks’ were four of 17 (blocks A-Q), which were originally taken up by Charles Ryan (1818-1898), of the Melbourne stock and station agents’ firm of Ryan and Hammond, as part of his ‘Kilfera’ Station. The Ballarat Star of 16 November 1864 reported:

A number of drays laden with stores, tools, and necessaries for the establishment of a back country station, belonging to Mr Ryan, of Ryan and Hammond, crossed the river [Murray] this week for the Kilfera (new) blocks, between the Lachlan and Darling.

‘Kilfera’ was named after Ryan’s birth place in County Kilkenny, Ireland and it was his second ‘Kilfera’ Station. His first was on the Broken River near Benalla in Victoria, which he took up in the early 1840s in partnership with John Atkins, and sold in 1846. Charles Ryan’s daughter was artist Ellis Rowan (1848-1922) - Christened Marian Ellis Ryan - famous for her paintings of Australian and New Guinean flowers and birds.

The establishment of ‘Manfred’ Station is sometimes incorrectly attributed to George Peter Desailly (1823-1876). George took up ‘Ticehurst’ Station in the Lachlan District that included Miparo of Manfred run, which appears to be the source of the confusion. ‘Manfred’ Station is in the Darling District and many kilometres to the west of ‘Ticehurst’. Further adding to the confusion; ‘Kajuligah’ Station, immediately north of ‘Ticehurst’, includes Miparo of Manfred East run and ‘Manfred’ Station also includes Miparo of Manfred East run.

William Taylor (1818-1903) was born in Glasgow, Scotland and arrived at Port Phillip in 1840. Soon after his arrival, he purchased a sheep-run on the Moorabool River, around 32 kilometres from Geelong. In 1844, Taylor and Dugald Macpherson took up 206 000 acres (83 366 hectares) of land in the Wimmera, near the present Victorian towns of Horsham and Nhill. The holding was subdivided in 1848 with Taylor naming his portion ‘Longerenong’. Dugald Macpherson worked with his younger brother Peter, who in 1873 bought ‘Paika’ Station north of Balranald, in partnership with Robert Bruce Ronald (1831-1907).

In 1861, Taylor bought Euston Station (Pastoral Holding No. 221, consisting of Boomiaricool and Nowung runs) and [Back] Boomiaricool Station (Pastoral Holding No. 60), in the Lower Darling Squatting District, from Edmund Morey (1826-1913). In 1846, pioneer squatter Morey took up land called ‘Boomiaricool’ around the current village of Euston, on the River Murray opposite today’s Victorian town of Robinvale. Morey moved to the Darling Downs in Queensland following the sale. Morey recorded his life experiences in a series of 14 articles titled ‘Reminiscences of a pioneer in NSW’ that were published in the Sydney Mail between 30 October 1907 and 29 January 1908.

In addition to ‘Euston’, [Back] ‘Boomiaricool’ and ‘Manfred’ stations; Taylor also owned ‘Marma’ Station (Pastoral Holding No. 61, consisting of Marma and Mundonai runs) and had a half-share with John Bertram in ‘Garnpung’ Station (Pastoral Holding No. 157, consisting of Garnpung, East Tarcoola and East Tarcoola Block A runs). All of those properties are in the semi-arid area between the lower Lachlan – lower Murrumbidgee rivers and the Darling River; north of the River Murray, in SW NSW. At various times, Taylor also had interests in ‘Police Point’ (1848) now ‘Illilawa’, near Hay, ‘Moonbria’, ‘North Abbotsford’, ‘Salisbury Downs’, and ‘Bootra’ stations in NSW, and became a partner in ‘Darr River Downs’ in Queensland, in 1888.

Alexander Thomson Creswick (1853-1939) purchased ‘Manfred’ Station from the estate of William Taylor, in 1909. Alexander was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of Henry Creswick and his wife Jane. His father was a partner in the wine and spirits business of D. S. Campbell & Co. and made a fortune from liquor sales during the gold rush; between 1851 and 1858. Alexander commenced studies at Melbourne University in 1872 but reluctantly left after a year to manage Liewa Station, between the Edward and Wakool rivers, which his father bought from G. A. and P. Mein, in 1873.

In 1900, Following the death of James Tyson in 1898, Creswick purchased his Tupra-Juanbung complex (650 000 acres), near the Lachlan-Murrumbidgee ‘junction’, and soon after bought adjoining ‘Tarwong’ Station from the estate of Peter Tyson. In 1906, he bought Thomas E. ‘Old Tom’ Patterson’s huge ‘Ulonga’ Station (that included One Tree Plain) with a large frontage to the Lachlan River, below Booligal. In 1911, he purchased ‘Moolpa’ Station that joined his original Liewa Station, north of the Edward River. He also owned ‘Trida’ and ‘Conoble’ stations, east of ‘Manfred’ that he worked as one property. He appears to have purchased ‘Kilfera’ Station from Ben Chaffey, or became a partner with him in 1919.

Creswick became one of the largest individual sheep owners in the history of Australia. By 1924, with the backing of Goldsbrough Mort & Co. Ltd., he had bought and sold over 30 pastoral properties and was shearing over 400 000 sheep. His requirements for retaining properties were that they had river frontages, and access to railways so that he could move stock to some of his widely scattered relief stations whenever drought threatened. In addition to the properties mentioned, at various times, Chreswick also owned ‘Mooloomoon’, ‘Keri Keri’, ‘Gunbar’, ‘Chilichil’, ‘Fairview’, ‘Yarrara’, ‘Coppabella’, ‘Merribindinyah’, ‘Arthursleigh’, ‘Bedford Park’, ‘Combogolong’, ‘Barham’, ‘Bullagreen’ and ‘Collaroy’, in NSW. In Victoria, he had ‘Bumbang’, near Robinvale, ‘Strathvean’, ‘Fernside’, ‘Bolinda Park’ and ‘The Nook’ Stud. In Queensland, he held at one time ‘Coongoola’, near Cunnamulla, ‘Keeroongooloo’, ‘Cooluliah’, ‘Tomoo’ and ‘St Helens’. He was also a director of the Bank of Victoria and Carlton Brewery, and from around 1900, bred hundreds of race horses.

Benjamin ‘Ben’ Chaffey (1876-1937) purchased ‘Manfred’ Station from A. T. Creswick in 1923. ‘Manfred’ was worked in conjunction with adjacent ‘Kilfera’ Station (purchased from Ralph Sadlier Falkiner in 1918) as Chaffey & Co. After ‘Kilfera’ was sold in 1925, the business became Manfred Pastoral Company – Goldsbrough Mort & Co. Ltd. appeared to be a major shareholder in both companies. Chaffey had previously (1906) purchased ‘Garnpang’ station, which like ‘Manfred’, had once belonged to William Taylor.

Benjamin Chaffey was the son of George Chaffey, who with his uncle William Benjamin Chaffey, came to Australia at the end of the nineteenth century to established a major irrigation settlement on the River Murray near today’s Mildura, Victoria. Benjamin was born at Kingston, Ontario, Canada and came to Australia with his parents as a 10-year-old, in 1886.

Ben Chaffey was a pastoralist and held a number of sheep properties during his life. He was also a successful ‘colourful racing identity’. Two of his best-known race horses were Whittier and Manfred. In 1922, Whittier ran second in the Caulfield Guineas and won the Caulfield Cup a week later. Whittier repeated his victory in the Caulfield Cup in 1925 and Manfred won in 1926. Whittier and Manfred were also Victoria Derby winners in 1922 and 1925, respectively. Chaffey was a member of the Australian Club and many racing clubs, and in 1930 he was elected chairman of the Victoria Amateur Turf Club. He was also chairman of directors of United Distillers Pty. Ltd., a director of Goldsbrough, Mort & Co. Ltd., and managing director of Manfred Pastoral Company.

On death of Chaffey in 1937, ‘Manfred’ Station was taken over by Goldsbrough Mort and Co. Ltd. and run by that company - and its successor formed in 1962 - Elder Smith Goldsbrough Mort & Co. Ltd., until 1968.

‘Manfred’ was purchased by John ‘Jock’ and Kerry Harris in 1968.