The crater was discovered from the air in July 1975[2] during a government geological survey and named in honour of Australian geologist John Veevers[3] who had worked in the area in the late 1970s.

[4] At the time of discovery a meteorite impact origin was suspected, but could not be proven.

[4][6] Based on cosmogenic nuclide exposure dating of the crater walls, the crater is less than 20 thousand years old, while the pristine state of preservation of the ejecta has been used to suggest that it may in fact be less than 4 thousand years old.

[6] The iron meteorite fragments collected around the crater are classified as a coarse octahedrite belonging to chemical class IIAB; the fragments show considerable evidence of deformation presumably related to the impact explosion.

[7] It has been inferred that the original meteorite was in the size range of 100–1,000 tonnes (220–2,200 thousand pounds), probably closer to the latter, now dispersed as fragments within the crater breccia and ejecta.