[4] The traditional Aboriginal owners of Brampton Island are the Ngaro people, although no permanent population was present when Captain James Cook passed through the area in June 1770.

These vessels were equipped with paddles decorated with red pigment as well as dugong-hunting harpoons made from palm fibre and sharpened bone.

The island's resort was first established in December 1933 when two of the Busuttin sons welcomed passengers from the P&O ship SS Canberra.

Tom McLean's son Fitzroy, who previously had been the Master of an ex-World War II Fairmile, Roylen Star, became the manager of the island.

An engineering feat during its day saw an airstrip built on the island in 1965 which operated TAA aircraft including (during the 1970s) De Havilland Twin Otters.

[1][3] On 1 September 1983, British resort worker Celia Douty was murdered in Dinghy Bay on Brampton Island.

The resort offered a number of free and paid-for activities, including fishing trips, snorkelling and scenic flights.