 The area was explored by Bruni D'Entrecasteaux in 1792 and was settled in the early 19th century by timber cutters, whalers and sealers.Life was hard and the people who lived in the area rarely settled for long preferring the life in Hobart Town to the whaling stations and logging camps.It was just north of Kettering in Oyster Cove that the last Tasmanian Aboriginal settlement was established in 1847.