The park is named to honour Earl Haig, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces during the First World War, spans the distance between Mount Ainslie and Black Mountain. The park comprises fourteen rows of trees planted to form a windbreak and shelterbelt. The majority of planting was in 1921, when Canberra's first Superintendent, Parks and Gardens, Charles Weston, planted over 7000 trees, predominantly exotic.