The south side of the island consists of numerous points and bays, with steep hill ridges descending to the sea from the high mountain range above.

[3] The highest elevation is Mount Rossel, near the eastern end of the island, which rises 838 metres (2,749 ft).

This precipitous peak has steep ridges extending to the north and west, but it descends in more gentle slopes southeast to Cape Deliverance, the eastern end of the island.

General depths in the lagoon range from 37 to 64 metres (121 to 210 ft), but numerous scattered shoals lie in it.

Rossel Island was first sighted and charted by Europeans on 14 July 1606 by the Spanish expedition of Luís Vaez de Torres.

Together with Tagula Island it was charted as Tierra de San Buenaventura (Land of St. Bonaventure) as it was first sighted on the feast of that saint.

He was on the frigate Recherche with Joseph Antoine Raymond Bruny d'Entrecasteaux on the search for the missing La Pérouse expedition, which was later written in 1809.