It is 1,698 kilometres (1,055 mi) by road NNW from Brisbane and is 719 metres (2,359 ft) above sea level.

[15] By March 1912, the state farm was growing maize, cow pea, rhodes grass, pumpkins, sugar melons and cucumbers.

In 1944, the state farm was taken over by the Australian Army to supply vegetables and eggs for the armed forces during World War II.

[17] After the war in 1946, the state farm was used to establish a regional experimentation station to address the declining productivity of the soils on the Atherton Tableland.

[19] In March 1962, the state farm became an official Research Station of the Queensland Department of Agriculture.

The sale of the land was to fund the establishment of the Agri-Science Hub at Peters Street, Mareeba.

James Cook University is a partner of the hub, researching tropical agriculture, aquaculture and biosecurity.