Kurnell was inhabited by the Dharawal people, and there are three middens and one relic that still remain today at the Towra Point Nature Reserve.

Early European colonialists ran horses and cattle on Towra Point, despite the poor condition of the land for such a purpose.

[8] In the 1960s, movement began to preserve Towra Point led initially by the President of Sutherland Shire, Arthur Gietzelt,[9] and Tom Uren, the then Federal Minister for Urban Affairs.

[11] In March 1969, the then Prime Minister, John Gorton ruled out Towra Point as a potential site for a second airport, citing community noise problems.

[14] Following lobbying by Ray Thorburn,[15] the reserve was bought by the Government of Australia in 1975, attempting to fulfil obligations to JAMBA, which would come into force in April 1981.

[1] Towra Point Nature Reserve also attempts to meet the Federal government's obligations to CAMBA, which came into force in 1988.

[21] The Friends of Towra Point volunteer group was founded in February 1997 and they do such activities as bush regeneration, seed collection, vegetation surveys and habitat creation for the little tern.

[26] In around 2007, the La Perouse Aboriginal Community began sending trainees to work in the area for the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service as part of the "Towra Team", combining bush regeneration work with learning traditional Aboriginal cultural skills.

Humans can maximise the area of healthy, functioning intertidal wetlands by minimising their impacts and by developing management strategies that protect, and where possible rehabilitate these ecosystems at risk.

Grey mangrove wood, for example, was used to make shields, shells were made into fishing hooks; and marine animals were used for food.

They need to take into account scientific and technological advances, changing social and political attitudes and variations in the level of funding.

As the Towra Point area is Ramsar listed, this attracts the operation of the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and regulations.

Towra Point Nature Reserve is listed a component of Littoral Rainforest and Coastal Vine Thickets of Eastern Australia, a critically endangered ecological community under the EPBC Act.