With Enderby Island it forms Class A Nature Reserve 36915, part of a proposed national park.

[2][3] During World War II an airstrip was established at the north end of the island, where there is also a vehicle track and a well with a distinctive date palm.

[4] In 1699 the English navigator William Dampier, in command of the 26-gun warship HMS Roebuck on a mission to explore the coast of New Holland, following the Dutch route to the Indies, passed between Dirk Hartog Island and the Western Australian mainland into what he called Shark's Bay.

[6] In 2016, archaeologists from the University of Western Australia (UWA) excavated ancient rock shelters on Rosemary Island, between 8000 and 9000 years old.

[1][4] Volunteers have been monitoring the hawksbill sea turtle, a critically endangered species, on the island since 1986.