The town's distinctive combination of historical buildings, ocean, fishing fleets, lakes and dense bush attracts many tourists.

[9] Europeans founded the town of Robe in 1846, ten years after the Province of South Australia was established, as a seaport, administrative centre and township.

To bypass the tax, more than 16,000 Chinese people landed at Robe to walk overland for 320 kilometres (200 miles) to the goldfields, mainly at Ballarat and Bendigo.

Robe's importance decreased with the building of railways in the 19th century to Kingston and Beachport, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) respectively to its north and south.

It continues as a service centre for the surrounding rural areas and home to a fishing fleet: especially important in the local economy is the rocklobster fishery.