The first European to find the lake was the explorer Ernest Giles in 1872. He had seen Kata Tjuta from far away and was making his way there. The lake blocked his path. He could not go over it because the dry lake bed was not able to hold the weight of his horses. He described the lake as "an infernal lake of mud and brine". Giles was going to name it "Lake Ferdinand" after Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. But Mueller asked Giles to instead name it after King Amadeus I of Spain. Amadeus had honoured Mueller a few years before.