The park was opened in 1962 and named in honour of prominent South Australian politician and journalist, Sir John Langdon Bonython.

There is some evidence to suggest that there was a billabong on the site, used as a fishing spot for the Kaurna people prior to European settlement.

[2] In December 1840 a school opened, supported by Governor George Gawler, but the site was dismantled in 1845, on the orders of Governor George Grey, who thought it best to take the children away from their parents, and a new "Native School" run by the government, which taught only in English, was established near what is now Kintore Avenue.

(The Native School closed in 1851, with the remaining children were taken to Poonindie Mission at Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.

[2] Pirltawardli, just across the river and straddling Parks 1 and 27, is still of great significance to Kaurna people, as well as non-Indigenous South Australians.

[4] The Bonython Park Adventure Playspace, a kiosk), a model boat pond, open kick/play fields, a junior playground and multi-barbecue stations are available for the public.

[1] The Roma Mitchell Garden, tended by prisoners until the closure of the gaol, has since the 1990s been maintained by the Catholic Order of Malta.