It forms part of the Port Fairy and Belfast Coastline Protection Reserve and, as well as being a tourist attraction, is an important site in the context of the history of European settlement of western Victoria.

Following commercial investigation of the western Victorian coast, it was named after John Griffiths, an entrepreneur and merchant from Launceston in northern Tasmania, who figures prominently in the early history of the area.

Extensive harbour works undertaken then and subsequently, mainly to improve the navigability of the Moyne River and its approaches, have affected the shape and boundaries of the island.

[4] Griffiths is an isolated outcrop of basaltic reefs and boulders on a substrate of early Pleistocene limestone, with overlying calcareous sand.

It was formed by lava flows from Mount Rouse, a volcano near Penshurst, that reached the coast some 3–400,000 years ago.

The shearwater colony is a tourist attraction in spring and summer, with a viewing platform constructed to facilitate watching the birds as they return in a swarm to their burrows at dusk.

Other animals resident on the island include swamp wallabies, short-beaked echidnas, blue-tongued lizards and tiger snakes.