[1] One of the 10 hundreds of the County of Sturt, it was proclaimed on 7 August 1851 by Governor Henry Young.

According to local historian Geoff Manning, the place name is derived from tainkila an indigenous term used by the Peramangk people meaning "ghost moth grubs"[2] which was first applied to Tungkillo mine, about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south of the township of Palmer in the east of the hundred.

The District Council of Tungkillo was established in 1855, incorporating the entirety of the hundred.

In the late 1990s the councils in the region were shuffled again and Mount Pleasant was dissolved.

As of 2019[update] the hundred forms a part of the Mid Murray council's Shearer ward.