The site was formally protected when the national park was gazetted in 1930. In 1962, the newly formed Noosa Parks Association successfully campaigned to expand the park boundaries to secure the entirety of Noosa Hill against impending residential development.
The infrastructure directly beneath the lookout deck is a large, active concrete town water reservoir. During a period of rapid regional development, the Noosa Shire Council identified the summit as the only suitable elevated site capable of holding a major water storage tank to provide gravity-fed water service to the growing coastal population. The critical water infrastructure was ultimately built into the hilltop, and the modern public viewing circular platform sits directly on the site.
