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The pass is named after Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson (1841-1934), who led the first party of Europeans across the pass in 1864. In 1863, Dobson went to the mostly unexplored West Coast of the South Island for seven months of survey work.

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His area of work extended from the Grey River to Abut Head, and inland up to the Main Divide. His brother Edward, meanwhile, was clearing a rough track over Harper Pass. Arthur Dobson returned to Christchurch and reported his findings to the chief curveyor, Thomas Cass.

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It was established in 1929, becoming the first national park in the South Island and the third in New Zealand. It is bisected by State Highway 73. The road passes through Arthur's Pass village and the mountain pass with the same name over the Southern Alps at a height of 920 metres above sea level.

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Much of the geography was formed by ancient glacial action, forming flat bottomed U-shaped valleys.

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