Robert Collins campaigned heavily for the protection of the area from logging from the 1890s. Collins entered state parliament and saw a bill passed that preserved state forests and national parks but he died before the McPherson Range was protected. Later it was another local, Romeo Lahey who recognised the value of preserving the forests. He campaigned to make it one of the first protected areas in Queensland. The O’Reilly family established a guesthouse near the park in 1926, now named O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, and founding members of the National Parks Association of Queensland built Binna Burra Lodge next to the park in the 1930s. Lamington National Park was established in 1915. The park was named after Lord Lamington, Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1902.