It is a popular destination with South Australian high school graduates for their end of year celebrations, known colloquially as schoolies.

[citation needed] Matthew Flinders in HMS Investigator visited the bay on 8 April 1802, while on the first circumnavigation of the continent, mapping the unsurveyed southern Australian coast from the west.

He encountered Nicolas Baudin in Le Geographe near the Murray Mouth several kilometres to the east of the present day location of Victor Harbor.

[7][full citation needed] At about the same time, two whaling stations were established, one at Rosetta Head, popularly known as "the Bluff", and the other near the point opposite Granite Island.

[citation needed] From 1839, the whaling station was managed for a time by Captain John Hart, a later Premier of South Australia.

[citation needed] The municipality of the town of Victor Harbor was proclaimed on 7 May 1914, with Oliver Alexander Baaner appointed the first mayor.

[20] In November 2023, Victor Harbor mayor Moira Jenkins voiced strong opposition, citing risks to the environment, to a proposal for a $350 million marina in the town.

[24] The urban population for the built-up coastal area extending from Victor Harbor to Port Elliot and nearby Goolwa was 28,363.

It is suspected that an increase in long-nosed fur seals in the area may be to blame; however, incidents such as those in 1998 where locals apparently kicked several of them to death have also contributed.

[36] Greenhills Adventure Park offered activities including waterslides, canoes, rock wall climbing, archery, mini golf, and go-karting; however this attraction has since closed down on 1 May 2016.

[37] This town hosts a three-day schoolies festival in late November mainly for South Australian school leavers.

[39] Another notable event is the Art Show run by the Rotary Club of Victor Harbor and exhibits of paintings are shown from all over Australia.

[42] On 16 May 1930, the title was briefly altered to Times Victor Harbor and Encounter Bay and Lower Murray Pilot.

[46] The Murray Bridge-based Power FM SA & 5MU both broadcast into Victor Harbor and the Fleurieu Peninsula with a repeater transmitter stationed north of Port Elliot.

The Victor Theatre was built on the site of Ocean Street Garage, owned by D.H. Griffin & Sons, designed by noted cinema architect Chris A. Smith.

[53] After a fire gutted the building in early 1934, it underwent reconstruction and extension in September of that year, to designs by F. Kenneth Milne.

It is thought to be one of the first buildings in South Australia created in the style known as streamlined, a type of Art Deco that became popular in the 1930s.

In October 2020 the City of Victor Harbor purchased the cinema, intending to include it in the town's Arts and Culture centre in the future.

It was featured in a photographic exhibition called Now Showing... Cinema Architecture in South Australia held at the Hawke Centre's Kerry Packer Civic Gallery in April/May 2024.

It was described as being "palatial"; wider than the older long narrow theatres, with a latticework ceiling containing concealed lighting, comfortable seating that included settees.

Its equipment was modern and it included a dance floor made of Queensland hoop pine, a soda fountain, and tea room.

It was officially opened on 22 December 1923 by the mayor W. F. Connell with great fanfare, and lauded for its ability to attract more visitors to the town.

[52] It started closing in the winter months from 1928,[58] and from February 1930 was the home of a government high school during the day, doubling as a dance hall at night.

[58] By December 1931, the Wonderview was used mainly as a dance hall,[58][60] as well as special fundraising events[61] and showings of films on Wednesdays and Saturdays, including Tarzan and His Mate, starring Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, in October 1934.

[63][64] From January 1939, the building was put to a variety of uses, including a tanning salon,[65] J. Miller Anderson & Co. sale,[66] church services,[67] and residences.

[71] The land on which Adare House was built was known to the Ramindjeri people as mootiparinga, meaning murky or brackish water.

Based on designs by architect Frederick William Dancker[72] (1852–1936),[73] the original house was rebuilt and expanded it to include 19 rooms, a cellar, a tower, a balcony, and three turrets.

[71][73] Other buildings listed on the South Australian Heritage Register include:[74] Victor Harbor has a warm summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb).