Prehistory Flinders Island was first inhabited at least 35,000 years ago, when people made their way from Australia across the then land-bridge which is now
Bass Strait. A population remained until about 4,500 years ago, succumbing to thirst and hunger following an acute
El Niño climate shift.
European arrival Some of the south-eastern islands of the
Furneaux Group were first recorded in 1773 by British navigator
Tobias Furneaux, commander of , the support vessel with
James Cook on
Cook's second voyage. In February 1798, British navigator
Matthew Flinders charted some of the southern islands, using one of the schooner
Francis' open boats. Later that year, Flinders returned and finished charting the islands in the
Norfolk; he then went on to complete the first circumnavigation of Tasmania (1798–99), accompanied by
George Bass, proving Tasmania to be an island separated from the Australian mainland by Bass Strait, later named in honour of George Bass.
Etymology James Cook named the islands Furneaux's Islands, after Tobias Furneaux. Flinders named the largest island in the group "Great Island". He also named a group of mountains on Flinders Island, the "Three Patriarchs". The small island just to the east, Flinders named "
Babel Island" from the noises made by the seabirds there.
Phillip Parker King later named the largest island Flinders Island, after Matthew Flinders. Flinders named
Mount Chappell Island after his wife Ann née Ann Chappelle. There are three islands named "Flinders' Island"—the large island on the east side of Bass Strait, named by Phillip Parker King; an island in the
Investigator Group of
South Australia, named by Matthew Flinders after his young brother Samuel Flinders (midshipman on the ); and an island in the Flinders Group north of
Cooktown, Queensland was named after Matthew Flinders.
Settlement In the late 18th century, the island was often frequented by
sealers and
Aboriginal women, the majority of whom had been kidnapped from their mainland tribes. Seal stocks soon collapsed, causing the last sealing permit to be issued in 1828. Many sealers' families chose to stay in the Furneaux Group, subsisting on cattle grazing and
muttonbirding.
Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment From 1831, the remnants of the Tasmanian Aboriginal population were exiled firstly to "The Lagoons" just south of what is now the town of
Whitemark, and then in 1833 to the
Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment at Settlement Point. Wybalenna is translated as "dwellings" or more colloquially "Black Man's Houses" from the language of the
Ben Lomond people. These ~180 survivors were deemed to be safe from white settlers here, but conditions were poor with around 130 Aboriginal people dying at Wybalenna alone. This forced relocation scheme was therefore short-lived. In 1847, after a campaign by the Aboriginal population against their commandant, Henry Jeanneret, which involved a petition to Queen Victoria, the remaining 47 Aboriginal people were again relocated, this time to
Oyster Cove Station, an ex-convict settlement 56 kilometres south of Tasmania's capital,
Hobart. Land on the neighbouring
Cape Barren Island was formally reserved for the Aboriginal community in 1881.
Soldier settlement schemes From the late 19th century freehold land was given out, but it was not until the 1950s that a proper settlement scheme was initiated, mainly drawing settlers from mainland Tasmania and central
New South Wales to Flinders Island's eastern shore. The Municipality of Flinders Island was instituted in 1903. ==Geography and nature==