At the southernmost tip of mainland Australia, it offers spectacular scenery of huge granite mountains, open forest, rainforest, sweeping beaches and coastlines.

Great bushwalks extend from under an hour to over three days. Visitors can camp, caravan or stay in huts, cabins, wilderness retreats or lodges at Tidal River where there is a general store and take-away food shop.

Wilsons Promontory Light station is perched on a small peninsula jutting into the wild seas of Bass Strait.

The waters surrounding the Prom are protected as a marine national park and marine park and offer outstanding diving.

Indigenous Australians occupied the area at least 6,500 years ago and the first Europeans to sight Wilsons Promontory are believed to be George Bass and Matthew Flinders in 1798.

The park became temporarily reserved as a National Park in 1898, and then made permanent in 1908. The original settlement in the Park was on the Darby River site, where a chalet existed.

The Wilsons Promontory was also used as commando training area at one point during World War II. A memorial to commandos who lost their lives in World War II is located at Tidal River.

The park has stands of White Mangrove, the most southerly stands of mangroves in the world.

Over 30 species of native mammals, not including marine mammals, have been recorded in the park. These include populations of the Long-nosed Potoroo, Swamp Antechinus, White-footed Dunnart, Broad-toothed Rat, Feather-tailed Glider and Eastern Pygmy-possum, as well as the more familiar kangaroos, koalas and wombats.

The Yanakie grasslands are popular for viewing Eastern Grey Kangaroos, wombats and emus.

Migratory wading birds feed on the tidal mudflats of Corner Inlet within and adjoining the park. The offshore islands provide roosting and breeding sites for sea birds, including an enormous number of Short-tailed Shearwaters.

Populations of the endangered Damselfly Hemiphlebia mirabilis, a "living fossil", are found around freshwater swamps and lagoons in the park.