Mount Dare Station owner Edwin Lowe started his pastoral career in 1903, gaining work as a jackaroo at Brunette Downs Station, Northern Territory. He soon advanced to managing that station, and then travelled north to run Mataranka Station.

Throughout the 1930s Lowe took up various pastoral leases in north-east South Australia and in 1936 drove his cattle overland from Mataranka to a new home at Mount Dare Station.

Lowe's various holdings were amalgamated in 1948 to become the Dalhousie Pastoral Company, with Mount Dare homestead as its headquarters. Soon after, Edwin and his wife moved to Adelaide. This left the day to day running of the company to son Rex, who assumed ultimate control upon his father's death in 1962.

In the 1970s there were growing concerns about the fate of the mound springs found within the station's boundaries. Although acknowledging its cooperation with conservation plans in the area, the State Government was aware that if Mount Dare continued as a working station, the degradation of the Dalhousie Springs was unavoidable.

To prevent this, the Government purchased Mount Dare from the Lowe family in 1984 for $750,000, and converted it to the Witjira National Park.

According to the Department of Environment and Heritage, "the need to protect and rehabilitate the 70 or so thermal springs in the Dalhousie complex was one of the main reasons for the establishment of Witjira National Park. The springs are home to unique species of fish such as the Lake Eyre hardy-head and other rare aquatic life. They are also a haven for arid-land birdlife."

In 1989 the Government decided to lease out the homestead, and it now offers accommodation and a place for outback travellers to pick up much-needed supplies and petrol before embarking on a Simpson Desert crossing.

Connell, Gordon. The mystery of Ludwig Leichhardt. Carlton, Vic. : Melbourne University Press, 1980

Davey, A. G., Davies, S. Jocelyn and Helman, Peter M. Mount Dare : a conservation and management appraisal of the former Mount Dare station in relation to the proposed national park at Dalhousie Springs, far northern South Australia..., A.C.T. : Applied Natural Resource Management, 1985

Lamshed, Max. 'Monty' : the biography of C.P. Mountford, Adelaide : Rigby, 1972, pp. 56-60

Mountford, Charles P. 'Papers relating to the South Australian Government Expedition to search for the remains of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt', PRG 1218/9

Price, A. Grenfell. The Mystery of Leichhardt : the South Australian government expedition of 1938, South Australia : Royal Geographical Society, 1937-38

Roderick, Colin. Leichhardt, the dauntless explorer, North Ryde, N.S.W. : Angus & Robertson, 1988

Shephard, Mark. The Simpson Desert : natural history and human endeavour, Adelaide : Royal Geographical Society of Australasia (South Australian Branch) and Giles Publications, 1992

National Museum of Australia. Leichhardt: the man, the mystery, the science, the history [symposium held in 2007]

South Australia. Department for Environment and Heritage. Witjira National Park