McConnel’s Droughtie ties run deep
For close to half a century, the McConnel family has striven to best themselves in producing the best Droughtmaster article possible at Mt Brisbane on Somerset Dam in the Brisbane Valley.
Don McConnel represents the fifth generation of the family on Mt Brisbane, where he manages the day to day running of the business alongside his parents John and Carli, wife Andrea, and children Audrey and Stirling.
The 4500 hectare property was settled by the Bigge brothers in 1842, and in 1893 the McConnel family were appointed as managers, and later partners, before eventually purchasing the property outright in 1914.
The country at Mt Brisbane comprises fertile creek flats which run into heavily timbered forest country, with creeks, dams and bores dotting the property.
“Despite the dry we’ve been faring well water-wise, it’s actually frost which has knocked us around recently, blackening off a lot of our native pastures,” Don said.
Excerpt taken from Country Life Queensland article, Aug 17 2018 by Matt Sherrington
