Kangaroo Island figured in
early maritime exploration. In 1802 Flinders went ashore from his vessel the
Investigator and observed several brown kangaroos - hence the name. The French
explorer Baudin was in the area at the same time, and a crewman left a carved
inscription on a rock at Penneshaw, Dudley Peninsula.
In 1836 the South Australian Land Company established South Australia's first white settlement at Reeves Point near Kingscote and stone ruins can still be found in the area which is now an historic reserve.
