They lived on the mainland and travelled to French Island to collect shellfish and swan eggs.

There are several registered sites on the island that consist of shell middens and stone scatters they left behind.

[7] The first recorded settlers on the island were William and John Gardiner in 1847, who had the first pastoral lease and grazed 8,000 sheep.

These were called Energy, Star of Hope, Callanan's, Perseverance, Industrial, Kiernan's and Grant Homestead Association.

The Bayview chicory kiln, the second and now the oldest remaining on the island, was built in 1896-97 and is as of April 2017[update] a cafe and museum.

[14] All supplies to the island come by the Barge, which runs every day of the year, depending on tide and appointments.

There are more than 40 km of unsealed gravel roads and tracks on the island, which are quiet and ideal for mountain bikes.

The island is generally flat or mildly undulating with the highest point being Mount Wellington (96 m above sea level).

Active pursuits include bushwalking, bird watching, horse riding, geocaching and cycling.

[17] Habitats range from coastal mangroves, swamps, heath, grasslands and blue gum forests.

Significant species on the island include: king quail, the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot, fairy tern, white-bellied sea eagle, swamp skink, long-nosed potoroo.

It is located in the National Park at Fairhaven, 5 km up the coast road from Tankerton Jetty (where the ferry arrives from Stony Point).

In mid 1967, the State Electricity Commission of Victoria (SECV) applied to the Lands Department for the reservation of 400 acres (1.6 km2) of French Island for future construction of a nuclear power plant.

[19] Due to the low cost of brown coal in Victoria and mounting pressure from the anti-nuclear movement, the SEC subsequently decided against commissioning a nuclear plant and instead continued the commissioning of brown coal plants.

Nuclear plants were not constructed in NSW as access to black coal allowed for bigger generators.

In 1982, the Cain Labor government in Victoria legislated to ban the building of nuclear power plants in the state.

[21] This took place at a time when ferry services to the island had become unreliable, with the two small vessels (King Fisher and Port Hunter) breaking down regularly.