A lease called Spurling’s Pocket was first taken up in 1903. It was located on today’s El Questro Wilderness Park. Due to the rugged and rocky land, the area never really took off as a cattle station and ownership changed hands numerous times.
In the late 1950s Torrance MacMiking and Morris Marshall took the lease up and named it El Questro. Besides cattle they grew vegetables on irrigated paddocks and sold them to Kununurra, which was in the process of being built. The grave of Michael, son of Morris Marshall can be seen under a large Boab tree near the station’s driveway.
In 1984, after several years on the market, the lease of El Questro finally passed from a consortium to brothers James and Ben Salerno. In 1991 the property changed hands again, on inspection Will and Celia Burrell found that trees had fallen over the roads and the station buildings were near derelict. However, they saw huge potential in the property and purchased the pastoral lease that very same year.
Emma Gorge accommodation was built during the wet season of 1992 and El Questro then opened as a Wilderness Park for the first time in May of that year.
The Homestead with its spectacular location on the Chamberlain River was opened in October 1992 with the Station surround and stone bungalows following in May 1993.
Since then numerous improvements have been made to the property, with new bungalows, tented cabins and staff accommodations also being added.
Will and Celia Burrell reluctantly sold El Questro to General Property Trust in 2005.
General Property Trust onsold the Wilderness Park to Delaware North Parks and Resorts in March 2010.
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