[5][6] Geoff Manning suggests that the name may have derived from an Aboriginal word, tinlinyara, the stars in Orion's belt.

[7] The area was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s when graziers moved their flocks of sheep into the district.

In 1865 the new owners, William Harding and George Bunn, built a 16-stand shearing shed which is now classified by the National Trust, along with the homestead.

[9] Tintinara is situated in what was an unproductive region because of its poor sandy soils, and low mallee scrub and heath vegetation.

After clearing of some of this vegetation, and the addition of trace elements, the district has become a productive farming area.