 In 1993, all of the land east of Main South Road (known as the gorge section’) was removed from the recreation park and constituted as the Onkaparinga River National Park.For managerial and administrative purposes, the recreation park and the national park are known collectively as the ‘Onkaparinga River Reserve’.The lower reaches of the Onkaparinga River were inhabited by the Kaurna Aboriginal people, and the name of the river is taken from the Kaurna name meaning chief.