After European colonisation it was used for the grazing of sheep, for rabbit disease research, was quarried for lime to supply the lead smelter at Port Pirie and is currently leased to the island's traditional owners: the Narungga.

[2] The island is part of the traditional lands of the Narungga people of the Yorke Peninsula who camped there regularly to hunt and gather food including shellfish, fish and the eggs of seabirds.

[2] Following the European settlement of South Australia, the first pastoral lease on Wardang Island was issued in 1861[2] to Stephen Goldsworthy for a term of 14 years.

[3] However, in 1975 the South Australian government returned Wardang Island to the Aborignal Lands Trust and it became part of Point Pearce Community Council.

[6] In 1909 a lighthouse was erected at the highest point on the island's West coast to serve the large number of ships visiting nearby Port Victoria, though its effectiveness was limited by low visibility.

[1][10] The legacy of shipping losses has made the waters around Wardang Island popular with recreational divers interested in wreck diving.

Investigator, MacIntyre and Moorara – that carried wheat and other local cargo, and three – the Aagot, Notre Dame D'Arvor and Songvaar – are larger vessels that transported grain to Europe.

A railway line was constructed to move the quarried lime from the southern deposits to the jetty at the northern end of the island.

Federal funding has enabled the Aboriginal Lands Trust to buy a barge which will provide ongoing access to Wardang Island.

Funding will also support Indigenous Protected Area activities, train Aboriginal people for seafaring work and the barge will become available for commercial use.

[53] South Australian Premier Steven Marshall cited the tourism opportunity for shipwreck divers as one of the reasons for investing in the landing facility.

[1] The native flora of Wardang Island prominently features Coast daisy-bush (Olearia axillaris) and Grey Samphire (Tecticornia halocnemoides).

Other native species include some isolated She-oaks; Umbrella wattle (some mature trees, many stunted by continual rabbit grazing) and some Marsh saltbush.

[2] Weeds are widespread on the island, and include Common Iceplant in thick mats in coastal areas, Sea Spurge in salt marshes, and clumps of African Boxthorn, Tree Tobacco and Horehound.

[2] Wardang island is home to various seabirds, including silver gulls, terns, oystercatchers (once referred to as "redbills"), little penguins[10] and cormorants.

In November 1937, the CSIRO began to use Wardang to conduct its first field trials of myxomatosis,[8][57] establishing the methodology for the first successful release of the myxoma virus throughout the country in the early 1950s.

[58] In October that year the virus escaped prematurely from the island to the mainland, believed to have been carried by bushflies on the afternoon sea-breezes, and spread rapidly through the country.

Captain E. H. Hipkins said that an Italian ship ran aground on Wardang Island some time prior to 1938, and the crew had mistaken the calls of penguins for those of fearsome wild animals.

Heavy westerlies have undermined these cliffs and large portions of rock have fallen to the sea bed, where waves have pounded them into weird shapes.

"[68]Their presence was noted in 1950 by Edna Davies who advised that if anyone visited the island and stayed until nightfall that they would see and hear the penguins coming ashore.