The south-eastern point of the island was named Cape Barren by Tobias Furneaux in HMS Adventure in March 1773.

[11] The colonial government of Tasmania established a formal reserve in 1881 and commenced providing basic social services to the community.

Government visitors throughout the 1920s and 1930s reported poor health and education, and proposals were made to remove children from their parents, ostensibly for their own benefit.

From the 1970s, a series of government policy changes were implemented that provided increasingly greater recognition of the personal and social rights of individuals.

[13] On 10 May 2005, the government released Crown lands on both Cape Barren and Clarke Island to be overseen by the local Aboriginal association.

On 16 November 1982, the east coast lagoons were recognised as being wetlands of international importance by being designated Ramsar site no.256.