McCamley's parents Edward and Ivy were second generation Polled Hereford cattle breeders, and had established a successful stud on their property Eulogie Park near Dululu, Queensland.
[2] In 1954, McCamley travelled to the United States with his sister Mavis and another Queensland cattle grazier Clare Langmore.
The trio spent three months touring the United States inspecting the quality of American cattle breeds.
[8][9] McCamley eventually built up a considerable cattle empire in Central Queensland, encompassing the properties of Tartrus, Royles, Glenprairie, Oakleigh, Stoodleigh and Tanderra.
The three-day conference attracted more than 3000 members and observers from Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
[10] In 1977, McCamley responded angrily at blackmail allegations made by National Country Party MP, David Thomson who claimed executives from the Cattleman's Union had threatened him with voting for Australian Democrats candidates at the next Federal Election.
[12] On 4 September 1985, Bjelke-Petersen was working on his property, "Ten Mile", on the Mackenzie River north of Duaringa, Queensland.
Bjelke-Petersen had recently received a death threat, giving police some reason to believe he may have been kidnapped or met with foul play.
In 2015, McCamley recalled how he spotted skid marks while he was flying his helicopter along a boundary fence, before locating Bjelke-Petersen's motorbike.
[13] In 1981, McCamley was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen's Birthday honours list, for his contribution to the beef industry.
On 2 May 1997, McCamley's daughter Jennifer and another person suffered injuries when an ultralight plane crashed shortly after take-off from an airstrip at "Tartrus".
Two men who happened to be nearby, Tom Koch-Emmery and Luke Walters, rushed to the crashed helicopter and dragged the badly injured McCamley out just before it exploded.
Lady Shirley's funeral was held at St Paul's Cathedral in Rockhampton where 1200 mourners gathered pay their respects.
[24][25][26][27][28][29] In June 2011, McCamley put forward a vision to build 3,000 residential sites on the Capricorn Coast, between the Causeway Lake and Lammermoor.
He said he had decided to sell one of his cattle stations, "Glenprairie" in three separate title as it wasn't viable to keep the property in the family due to his grandsons being interested in other careers away from the beef industry.
In August 2014, he publicly supported a proposal put forward by Rockhampton businessman Dominic Doblo to build a 10,000GL dam at The Gap on the Fitzroy River.
McCamley said he no longer had any personal interest in wanting the dam to be constructed, but considered it to be critical for the growth of Rockhampton, the Capricorn Coast and Gladstone.
[40] In May 2013, it was reported that McCamley was preparing to sell the family property of "Tartrus" along with "Royles Lot 2", "Glenprairie", "Oakleigh", "Stoodleigh" and "Tanderra" at an auction in Rockhampton on 5 June 2013.
McCamley also failed to appear on the annual Sunday Mail Queensland's Top 150 Rich List in 2013 despite his family's assets being worth an estimated $181million the previous year.
[42] McCamley decided to offload the "Oakleigh" and "Stoodleigh" properties, part of the larger "Glenprairie" aggregation, in December 2013.
[44] One newspaper article pointed out the apparent double standards between that particular deal, which didn't provoke any "murmur of dissent" and the attempted Chinese buyout of S. Kidman & Co properties, which prompted much public discussion about foreign ownership which pressured Australian treasurer Scott Morrison to block the sale twice.