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.

In February 1798, British navigator Matthew Flinders charted some of the southern islands, using one of the schooner Francis' open boats.

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.

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.

[9] 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.

This drainage is mainly provided by many small streams, few of them permanently flowing directly leading to the waters of Bass Strait or such a lagoon.

The total number of plant species in the Furneaux Group well exceeds 800, showing the great biodiversity of its ecosystem.

[10] Native bird species include the Cape Barren goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) and the short-tailed shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris).

The cape fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus) is the sole placental mammal commonly found on Flinders.

A 30 km2 tract of land on the island, lying mainly to the north and east of Whitemark, has been identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it contains three breeding colonies of the endangered forty-spotted pardalote and habitat used by flame robins.

[18] A 187 km2 strip of land extending the full 70 km length of Flinders Island's eastern coastline has also been identified as an IBA.