In 1980, the government set up the Yulara Development Company Ltd to provide tourist accommodation, staff housing and a shopping centre.

Between 1982 and 1984, the first stage of the resort was constructed for the Northern Territory Government by Yulara Development Company Ltd., at a cost of A$130 million.

The resort was designed by Philip Cox & Associates and won the Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA) Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture in 1985.

There were originally three competing hotels, but that detracted from the viability of the whole enterprise, with the company (and, indirectly, the government) incurring massive operating losses.

In 1992, the government sold, through open tender, a 40% interest in the Yulara Development Company and, therefore, the resort, to a venture capital consortium.

[9] The Great Central Road heads west and south-west into Western Australia, but is generally only suitable for high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicles.

[16] Yulara has an arid climate (BWh), with long, hot summers and short, cool winters, and scant rainfall year-round.