The town is situated just inland from a partly sheltered natural harbour on the west coast of the island, which was originally named Howie's Boat Harbour after David Howie, an early visitor and unofficial resident of the island in the 1840s. It was renamed after Archibald Currie (1830–1914), a Melbourne shipowner who purchased the remains of the full-rigged ship "Netherby" wrecked near there in 1866, and used the harbour as a base for salvage operations. The harbour was used for similar operations on later wrecks in the vicinity including the "British Admiral" in 1874 and "Blencathra" in 1875, the latter being wrecked right at the entrance to the harbour. Currie Lighthouse was built here in 1879.