[6] In 1861, HMVS Victoria and the Firefly, carrying the William Landsborough search party for Burke and Wills, formed a land base on Sweers Island after visiting Bentinck, which was inhabited by "hostile blacks".

[6] Sometime around 1916, a man remembered only as McKenzie came to Bentinck Island and set up a sheep run, basing himself on a site at the mouth of the Kurumnbali estuary.

He would ride over the island, accompanied by a pack of dogs, and shoot any Kaiadilt man who came within sight; in local memory, he murdered at least 11 people.

[7][8] The Kaiadilt people continued to live according to their traditional way of life until the 1940s, which included fishing for mullet and harvesting fruit from the mangroves, and obtaining fresh water by digging in swamps.

[2][6] In the early 1980s, linguist Nicholas Evans visited Mornington and Bentinck Islands to document the Kayardild language, of which there were 45 fluent speakers left.

Some of the women from the "old ladies' camp", after moving to Mornington Island again in the 21st century, formed the Kaiadilt art movement, led by Sally Gabori (c.1924–2015).