[1] The MacDonald and MacKenzie families had read about the Alexander Forrest descriptions of lands in the Kimberley region of Western Australia that would be open for leasehold.
[2] MacDonald began to establish the station and waited for his brothers, Charles and William, to arrive with the stock they were droving from Goulburn.
[1] Once arrived the MacDonalds and MacKenzies worked to build the property and cattle numbers soon increased.
[2] The station prospered and MacDonald expanded the holding and introduced Red Poll cattle into the Shorthorn herd.
[2] MacDonald retired to Goulburn in the early 1930s and continued to visit Fossil Downs until poor health forced him to stop travelling in 1935.