The land is a basaltic plateau[1] covered by an inland flood plain that hosts several large off-channel lakes that provide a permanent aquatic habitat.
[3] Ludwig Leichhardt and his team were the first Europeans to explore the area, on 4 May 1845 on his expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington (now Darwin).
A partnership formed between Walter Jervoise Scott, his brother Arthur, George Elphinstone Dalrymple and Robert Herbert (then Premier of Queensland) financed the acquisition of the leasehold.
[1] Gunnawarra Station was originally an outlying part of Valley of Lagoons until it was taken from the leasehold and taken up as a separate entity in 1865.
[7] By 1896 the station had been acquired by Messrs Fenwick and Rankin, who paid £12,000, a low price for the Scotts who had it stocked with over 20,000 head of cattle and 700 horses,[8] and had invested an estimated £200,000 into the venture.