The locality was officially defined in April 2007, with the name being a corruption of a word meaning "pallid cuckoo" in the Wardaman language, and was first settled by Europeans as a pastoral station.

[2] Established in 1917 by the North Australia Meat Company to support the operations of Vestey's Meatworks, Manbulloo Station was located close to the recently extended North Australia Railway, allowing direct rail access for livestock to be transported to Vestey's Meatworks in Darwin.

During the war, a field abattoir and fresh food processing camp was also established by the Australian Army at Manbulloo.

[4] Today, Manbulloo is a sparsely populated rural locality containing commercial mango plantations and a CSIRO research station.

[5] The original riverside homestead now functions as tourist accommodation, with a surrounding caravan park.