[2] The first European person to find and recognise gold in the Tanami Desert was Allan Arthur Davidson, who arrived in the area in 1898 and continued prospecting until 1901.

"On inquiry [he] learned that the native name of the rockholes (from [which the party obtained water] was Tanami, and that they "never died," he said.

Davidson showed the gold specimens to these Aboriginal people, who recognised it and described "mobs of similar stone to the east, together with a large creek containing plenty of water and fish.

[5] In 1936 anthropologist Charles P. Mountford, during an expedition with organised by the University of Adelaide's board for anthropological research, photographed the activities of aboriginal people drinking from the waterholes,[6] knapping found fragments of bottle glass to make spearheads,[7] and spinning strings from animal fur.

[9][10] On 25 June 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia, a worker tested positive for COVID-19 sending the mine into lockdown.