[2][6] The conservation park consisted of land in sections 7 to 10 in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Archibald and sections 3 and 4 in the cadastral unit of the Hundred of Makin located in the south-west corner of the locality of Ngarkat.

[2][5]: 54  The land was given protected area status in 1953 because it was “predominantly... unsuitable for development on account of its hilly or sandy nature.”[5]: 6  Its name was derived from Mount Rescue, a hill with a height of 129 metres (423 ft) and which is located to the immediate east of the conservation park in section 23 of the Hundred of Makin.

[4] As of February 2004, the conservation park covered an area of 283.4 square kilometres (109.4 sq mi).

Nearly three quarters of the park are covered by an open heath of Xanthorrhoea australis, Banksia ornata and Casuarina pusilla, while mallee open scrub and mallee tall shrubland interrupt the heath areas.

In this vast expanse of native vegetation are at least five species of plants which are rare in South Australia… and over seventy bird species, two of which, Leipoa ocellata (mallee fowl) and Pachycephala rufogularis (red lored whistler), are uncommon in SA… Dark Island Heath in the south of park has been the site for important ecological studies of heath communities.The conservation park was classified in 2002 as being an IUCN Category Ia protected area.