The park has a rich pastoral history and until December 1984 was part of Lawn Hill Station, which was once one of Queensland's largest cattle properties. The cattle station was formed from several leases originally granted in the 1870s, and for some time was run by the notoriously cruel Jack Watson. Sebastião Ferreira Maia, who owned that station from 1976, returned on the lease to the state in 1984, on the condition it be managed for the public's benefit. In 1992, another was given to the crown to extend the park's boundaries.