[5] It is named after the French naturalist and explorer François Péron who was the zoologist aboard Nicolas Baudin's 1801 and 1803 scientific expeditions to Western Australia, and is situated within the bounds of the earlier pastoral lease of the Peron Station.

Locations from the French exploration era include: A pearling camp was established on the peninsula at Herald Bight in the 1880s and the remains of shells can still be found along the beach.

It was gazetted on 8 January 1993 as a National Park – through the purchase of Peron Station (Pastoral Lease 3114/761) in 1990.

[6] It is adjacent to and surrounded by the Shark Bay Marine Park to the west, north and east, and by the Denham to Monkey Mia road to the south.

Picnic, boat launching and camping areas along the west coast of the Peninsula include: