Rabbit Island was stocked with rabbits in 1839 by Captain Wishart, the whaler.  In 1840 he anchored his barque, the ‘Wallaby’, in Lady’s Bay, and lanced his last whale off Horn Point.  A great, grey shark happened to be cruising about the whaling ground, the taste of blood was on the sea, and he followed the wounded whale; until, going round in her flurry, she ran her nose against Wishart’s boat and upset it.  Then the shark saw strange animals in the water which he had never seen before.  He swam under them and sniffed at their tarry trousers, until they landed on the rocks:  all but one, Olav Pedersen, a strong man but a slow swimmer.  A fin arose above the water between Olav and the shore.  He knew what that meant, and his heart failed him.  Three times he called for help and Wishart threw off his wet clothes and plunged into the sea.  The shark was attracted to the naked captain, and he bit a piece out of one leg.  Both bodies were recovered; that of Wishart was taken to Hobarton, and Olav was buried on the shore at the foot of a gum tree.  His epitaph was painted on a board nailed to the tree, and was seen by one of the pioneers on his first voyage to the Old Port in 1841.

Before Gippsland was brought under the law, Rabbit Island was colonised by two whalers named Page and Yankee Jim, and Page’s wife and baby.  They built a bark hut, fenced in a garden with a rabbit-proof fence, and planted it with potatoes.  Their base of supplies for groceries was at the Old Port.

They were monarchs of all they surveyed,
From the centre all round to the sea.

They paid no rent and no taxes.  Sometimes they fished, or went to the seal islands and brought back seal skins.  In the time of the potato harvest, and when that of the mutton birds drew near, there were signs of trouble coming from the mainland.  Fires were visible on the shore at night, and smoke by day; and Page suspected that the natives were preparing to invade the island.  At length canoes appeared bobbing up and down on the waves, but a shot from the rifle sent them back to the shore.  For three days and nights no fire or smoke was seen, and the two whalers ceased to keep watch.  But early next morning voices were heard from the beach below the hut; the blacks were trying to launch the boat.  Page and Jim shouted at them and went down the cliff; then the blacks ran away up the rocks, and were quickly out of sight.  Presently Mrs. page came running out of the hut half dressed, and carrying her baby; she said she heard the blacks jabbering in the garden.  In a short time the hut was in a blaze, and was soon burned to the ground.  The two men then launched their boat and went to the Port.  Davy shipped a crew of six men, and started in his whaleboat for the island; but the wind was blowing hard from the west, and they did not arrive at the island until next day.  The blacks had then all disappeared; and, as the men wanted something to eat, Davy told them to dig up some potatoes, while he went and shot six rabbits.  When he returned with his game, the men said they could not find any potatoes.  He said, “That’s all nonsense,” and went himself to the garden; but he could not find one potato.  The blackfellows had shipped the whole crop in their canoes, so that there was nothing but rabbit for breakfast.