Following his discovery of Victoria Land in 1841, James Clark Ross took possession of this territory, along with the surrounding sea, on behalf of Britain.

On 30 July 1923, the British Government passed an Order in Council under the British Settlements Act 1887, which defined the current borders of the Ross Dependency as follows: From and after the publication of this Order in the Government Gazette of the Dominion of New Zealand that part of His Majesty's Dominions in the Antarctic Seas, which comprises all the islands and territories between the 160th degree of East Longitude and the 150th degree of West Longitude which are situated south of the 60th degree of South Latitude shall be named the Ross Dependency.The Order in Council then went on to appoint the governor-general and commander-in-chief of New Zealand as the governor of the territory.

But his excellency was required in all matters of legislation and regulation for the Ross Territory to comply with instructions from the colonial secretary.

This however had no bearing on the obligations of the governor-general of New Zealand in their capacity as governor of the Ross Dependency on the appointment of the Government of the United Kingdom.

China is establishing a year-round research station at Inexpressible Island in Terra Nova Bay of the Ross Sea that opened in 2024.

[10] In 2020, the Royal New Zealand Navy commissioned a new logistics support ship, HMNZS Aotearoa, which is a Polar-class Level 6 vessel (Summer/autumn operation in medium first-year ice)[11] capable of berthing at McMurdo Station (ten minutes by jeep from Scott Base)[12] for resupply purposes.

[13][14] About 1.12 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea region have been declared a Marine Protected Area (MPA).

As this base was a non-governmental entity, the official policy of the signatory nations of the Antarctic Treaty was not to give any support or assistance to it.

In the summer of 1985, when the British non-governmental exploratory vessel Southern Quest sank in the Ross Sea, the United States Coast Guard helicopters rescued the crew, who were taken to McMurdo Station.