[3][4] Situated on the lands of the Aboriginal Kaurna people, the Marino Conservation Park and surrounding areas are part of the Tjilbruke dreamtime.

[4] Proclaimed in 1989 as a conservation park, it aims to protect flora such as the ground cover desert saw sedge (Gahnia lanigera) and twiggy daisy bush (Olearia ramulosa) and native grass species of genera such as Danthonia and Stipa, and groundcovers that dominate the central and eastern portions of the conservation park.

[4] The steep west-facing hillside above the railway line contains a very significant remnant area of coastal heath vegetation, including rare plants such as lemon beauty heads Calocephalus citreus, shiny ground berry (Acrotiche patula) and native apricot (Pittosporum phylliraecoides).

Twenty-nine species of bird including owls, falcons, honeyeaters and rosellas frequent the conservation park.

It is managed by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority A bushfire in November 2011 blackened a large part of the park.