It is part of the Partridge Island Group, lying close to the south-eastern coast of Tasmania, in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the mainland.
The island has a small human population and has been subjected to intensive agricultural activities in the past.
[2] The vegetation is dominated by introduced grasses and bracken with some large, scattered white gums in the north-west.
Recorded breeding seabird species are little penguin and short-tailed shearwater.
[1] The first European to sight Huon Island was M. de Cretin, one of D’Entrecasteaux's officers, on May 2, 1792.