Glen Helen is located 133 km west of Alice Springs at the end of the sealed section of road known as Namatjira Drive.No one knows who named the region but it was one of the first pastoral leases in Central Australia.The first owner,Alan Braeden,overlanded stock over 2000 km and built a house,Munga Munga,on the bank of Ormiston Creek.It is now nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Today the term Glen Helen is applied to the lodge,the gorge near the lodge and the surrounding 368 hectare Nature Park controlled by the Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory.
The Glen Helen Gorge is formed from quartzite.Sandstone was deposited in the area some 500 million years ago when it was a huge inland sea.It was subsequently tilted and uplifted.As this uplift was occurring the Finke River slowly eroded its way through the mountain range.
Glen Helen is known to local Aborigines as Yapalpe and the Finke River is Larapinta which means 'serpent'.It was a favourite meeting place for the Aboriginal people from the West and Central MacDonnell Ranges.