The land under protection was declared as a fauna conservation reserve under the Crown Lands Act 1929 on 16 March 1967. The fauna conservation reserve was re-proclaimed as the Olive Island Conservation Park in 1972 under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 on 27 April 1972 to ‘conserve a significant Australian sea lion breeding habitat.’ On 19 December 1991, additional land was added to the conservation park. As of 2018, it covered an area of .
