[1] Early British settlers named the island after Admiral Augustus Keppel, First Lord of the Admiralty in the 18th century.

An Anglican missionary settlement set up in the mid-19th century served some Yaghan people brought there from Tierra del Fuego.

Captain Allen Gardiner, founder of the society, had proposed use of this island, as a less hostile climate and environment than Tierra del Fuego, from which missionaries could gain the confidence of the Yaghan and learn their language.

From 1856, Anglican missionaries persuaded several Yaghan to move from Tierra del Fuego to Keppel Island, where they learnt farming techniques and some English.

[2] Thomas Bridges was a young Anglican missionary who started there in 1871, having already learned the Yahgan language while on Keppel Island.

[3] Today, the mission bailiff's house, the chapel, and the stone walls of some of the Yaghan dwellings remain intact on Keppel Island.