The Cambridge Dictionary of Australian Places incorrectly states that "it was named in 1836 by Robert Fitzroy, commander of HMS Beagle, after his ship.

However, Darwin and Fitzroy sailed in 1836 from King George's Sound (Western Australia) directly to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, at the south coast of Java, and from there to Cape Town and back to England.

[2] The gulf was actually named by Captain John Clements Wickham, commanding HMS Beagle during its survey of northern Australia in 1837-1838, at the beginning of her third and last long voyage.

In 1991 the Northern Territory Government proposed the formation of the Beagle Gulf Marine Park.

Zoning plans enable the broadest possible use of marine parks whilst providing for the protection and conservation of significant ecological, scientific, historical, cultural and scenic sites.