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MONA was part of a 46,000 acre "superannuation" land grant, in 1837, to Thomas Braidwood Wilson, who was a Medical Officer with the British Navy. The township was later named after him.

Thomas Braidwood Wilson was a keen gardener and planted the quadrangle of Elms that surround the Homestead and formal gardens. He introduced to exotic plants to Australia including Viburnum Tinnus and Liliac. There are at least five varieties of Viburnums and three different lilacs in the gardens today.

Thomas Braidwood Wilson married and had a child but then ran into a streak of bad luck, losing both his wife and child, his house burnt down and he met with financial disaster. The property was taken over by a man named Coghill who also had been granted a large parcel of land to the south of Braidwood.

In the late 1800's Coghill sold the land to the Madrell family who completed the construction of a 60 room mansion in 1901, and named the property MONA. MONA is Gaelic for Isle of Man, the Madrell's country of origin.

In 1935 the Madrell's sold the property to a man named Wilton. To survive the depression Wilton pulled down the parts of the house he did not need and sold them as building supplies. For reasons unknown he also proceeded to rip out the garden that had been planted and nutured over the previous 100 years.

In 1945 MONA was purchased by Jock MacKay for his family. Jock's wife Janette was a keen gardener. The MacKays worked at restoring the house to some of its former glory and recreating a beautiful garden surround. Janette was passionate about walled gardens so Jock built a wall surround on the lower level outside the homestead.