Crystal Brook is the second largest town after the city of Port Pirie in the Southern Flinders Ranges area.

The town benefits from a temperate mediterranean climate zone,[5] making possible slightly more intense farming in the region.

The original homestead that belonged to the Bowman Brothers, which the park was named after, is there overlooking the Crystal Brook.

The township, near the eponymous Broughton River tributary, Crystal Brook, was surveyed in August 1874 and officially proclaimed on 12 November that year.

During World War II, Crystal Brook was the location of RAAF No.31 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), built in 1942 and closed on 14 June 1944.

[7] Crystal Brook (or creek) supplied water to the town until 1890 when the Beetaloo Reservoir was completed, which at the time was the largest concrete dam in the southern hemisphere.

There is a triangular junction at Crystal Brook which joins Tarcoola, Adelaide and Sydney and sees regular trains each day in all directions.

Hot, dry summers and mild winters lie to the north, and more temperate conditions to the south.

[10] Crystal Brook's sporting facilities cater for hockey, tennis, croquet, golf, lawn bowls, netball, basketball, swimming, gymnasium exercise, junior soccer, horse riding, motor-cross, football and cricket.