Iron-bearing oxy-dravite was thermally treated in air and hydrogen atmosphere at 800 °C to study potential changes in Fe, Mg and Al ordering over the octahedrally coordinated Y and Z sites and to explore possible applications to intersite geothermometry based on tourmaline. Overall, the experimental data (structural refinement, Mössbauer, infrared and optical absorption spectroscopy) show that heating Fe-bearing tourmalines results in disordering of Fe over Y and Z balanced by ordering of Mg at Y, whereas Al does not change appreciably. The Fe disorder depends on temperature, but less on redox conditions. The degree of Fe³⁺–Fe²⁺ reduction is limited despite strongly reducing conditions, indicating that the f_O2 conditions do not exclusively control the Fe oxidation state at the present experimental conditions. Untreated and treated samples have similar short- and long-range crystal structures, which are explained by stable Al-extended clusters around the O1 and O3 sites. In contrast to the stable Al clusters that preclude any temperature-dependent Mg–Al order– disorder, there occurs Mg diffusion linked to temperaturedependent exchange with Fe. Ferric iron mainly resides around O²⁻ at O1 rather than (OH)⁻, but its intersite disorder induced by thermal treatment indicates that Fe redistribution is the driving force for Mg–Fe exchange and that its diffusion rates are significant at these temperatures. With increasing temperature, Fe progressively disorders over Y and Z, whereas Mg orders at Y according to the order–disorder reaction: ^YFe + ^ZMg → ^ZFe + ^YMg. The presented findings are important for interpretation of the post-crystallization history of both tourmaline and tourmaline host rocks and imply that successful tourmaline geothermometers may be developed by thermal calibration of the Mg– Fe order–disorder reaction, whereas any thermometers based on Mg–Al disorder will be insensitive and involve large uncertainties.