It is an area of great geological and palaeontological significance, and includes the oldest fossil evidence of animal life was discovered.

[6][7] Cave paintings, rock engravings and other cultural artefacts indicate that the Adnyamathana and Ndajurri lived in the Flinders Ranges for tens of thousands of years.

The party set up a depot near Mount Arden, and then explored the surrounding region and upper Spencer Gulf, before heading east to the Murray River and returning to Adelaide.

[10] There are records of squatters in the Quorn district as early as 1845;[citation needed] however, the first three pastoral leases in the central Flinders Ranges were only marked out in 1851.

[citation needed] William Pinkerton is credited as being the first European to find a route through the Flinders Ranges via Pichi Richi Pass.

[citation needed] During the late 1870s the push to open agricultural land for wheat north of the Goyder's Line had met with unusual success, with good rainfall and crops in the Flinders Ranges.

This, along with the copper mining lobby (copper was mined in the Hawker-Flinders Ranges area in the late 1850s and transported overland by bullock dray), induced the government to build a narrow gauge railway line north of Port Augusta through Pichi Richi Pass, Quorn, Hawker and along the west of the ranges to Marree, to service the agricultural and pastoral industries.

Wilpena station, due to its unusual geography, along with areas around Quorn and Carrieton, are now the only places north of Goyder's Line to sustain any crops.

Pastoral industries flourished, and the rail line became of major importance in opening up and servicing sheep and cattle stations along the route to Alice Springs.

The township covered an area of 1.72 km2 (0.66 sq mi) and was laid out in squares in a manner similar to the state's capital city, Adelaide.

[3] The southern ranges are notable for the Pichi Richi heritage steam and diesel railway and Mount Remarkable National Park.

During the Cambrian (about 540 million years ago) the area underwent the Delamerian orogeny, when this sequence of rocks was folded and faulted into a large mountain range.

[17] The Ranges are renowned for the Ediacara Hills, south-west of Leigh Creek, where in 1946 some of the oldest fossil evidence of animal life was discovered.

Similar fossils have subsequently been found in the ranges, including at Nilpena, with an application being made for World Heritage listing to help protect the sites.

[24] The flora of the Ranges are largely species adapted to a semi-arid environment, including sugar gum, cypress-pine, mallee and black oak.

[25] A team acting on behalf of the Government of South Australia and the traditional owners, the Adnyamathanha people, which includes internationally renowned American palaeontologist Mary L. Droser, lodged a nomination for a tentative listing as a World Heritage Site,[26] which was accepted by UNESCO in April 2021.

It is a lengthy process, and the site needs to fulfil very specific criteria as well as showing strong evidence that its values are absolutely unique in the world.

[29] In November 2022, the state government announced an allocation of A$500,000 over four years towards enabling the Adnyamathanha people to identify priorities for cultural heritage protection.