Stories of the coast…

Maria Island meanderings

9 min readOct 6, 2021

As dark clouds gather, the sun shines on the distant sea. On the horizon, the granite peaks of Schouten Island and Frecinet Peninsula seen from the northern extremity of Maria Island.

“Look… look!”. It was the eight year old grandkid. “They’re running.” She was pointing at two wombats running past at speed. Running and speed are not characteristics usually associated with wombats. A marsupial the size of a medium dog but far bulkier, let’s say barrel-like, they are commonly seen ambling along or just standing around nibbling grass. Wombats have proliferated on Maria Island. These bulky mammals are everywhere and wander around ignoring people.

The 115.5sq km of mountainous Maria Island, around 30 or so minutes by ferry from the Tasmanian East Coast town of Triabunna, traces its European peoples’ story back to Tasmania’s days as a penal colony, when the British used the place as a dump for its unwanted felons.

I first visited the island perhaps 40 years ago. What were then neglected, locked buildings have now been renovated. The Coffee Palace in Darlington, which was the settlement on the island, is now a museum. Overnighting visitors can hire basic bunkshouse rooms in the convict era penitentiary. The mess hall serves as a lunchtime refuge and day shelter with a basic kitchen and displays. For history afficanados there is much to see and learn, many ruins of locally-made bricks and many standing buildings, some of which you can enter to explore. Take time to do that and think about how life here was so different to what we experience these days.

A short sea journey

“Dolphins! Four dolphins!”, she cried on seeing the animals surface close to the ship and follow us to the wharf. Just like her to quantify something, I thought, remembering how she started counting the local flock of yellow-tail black cockatoos where we live and giving up at 202.

The eight year old was content to stay in the cabin with the adults, however the ten year old had convinced me we should go and sit on the deck at the front of the boat. That was before she saw the dolphins. From there we watched the bulk of Maria Island grow in scale, its mountainous ridge rising high and its extent become apparent. This is no small island. Our ferry journey across Mercury Passage was smooth.

Ruby Hunt’s long disused cottage on the windswept coast. The cottage is unlocked and open to explore. Maria Island has a number of old domestic and industrial buildings. The trees tell of the predominate wind direction.

The Fossil Cliffs circuit… an easy walk

The cold wind blows from the open sea over a treeless landscape here on the northern tip of Maria Island. It was cool enough for the two grandkids to wear their puff jackets. This was our first walk today, an easy 4.5km along a gravel service road following the loop to and from Darlington via the Fossil Cliffs.

We set off on our walk in warm sunshine, warm for early spring in Tasmania, anyway. We had just moved on from looking at two wombats sleeping in a hollow when a light rain started to fall. Then came the hail. Then sunshine. Typical Tasmanian weather, four seasons in a day or maybe in an hour, as the local saying goes.

A lazy wombat sleeps in the grass. There are numerous wombats and wallabies on Maria Island.

There are mountains on the horizon. Across the wind-whipped sea rise the granite peaks known as The Hazards and the peak of Schouten Island just offshore of the southern extremity of Frecinet National Park. Blued by distance, they are an impressive sight. Their brooding presence speaks silently of the ruggedness of Tasmania and the natural beauty of its coastline.

Fossil Cliffs is what its name suggests. The limestone is rich in the fossilised forms of molluscs and other past life. In the earlier part of the Twentieth Century the cliffs were mined for limestone to make cement. All that remains are steep slopes eroded by time and weather where the mineral was extracted. The decaying silos and the shell of the cement factory are what visitors first encounter on disembarking the ferry, other than the skeleton of a whale that has been laid out to create an impression of the cetation and, perhaps, a couple high-speed wombats.

We walk on. The land rises. Then the rocky spire of Bishop and Clark starts to rise above the open slope to emerge in all its imposing presence above cliffs that plunge to the sea. This is an island both calming in its easy terrain and dramatic in its mountainous backbone.

The summit of Bishop and Clark is only a few metres lower than Mt Maria. The foot track that ascends the peak leaves the track we follow a short distance ahead.

There are more ambitious walks south of Darlington, some best done with an overnight camp. One ascends Mt Maria. Both it and Bishop and Clark are walks for people with a bushwalking experience. We were here on a day trip, however, so the short walks was all we had time for. Visiting the island for day walks seems popular. There were a couple larger parties of older walkers doing the two walks we completed.

The island has a rich human history. First came the Tyreddeme people, then the English, Dutch and Italians. Convicts, sealers, whalers, fishermen, farmers and industrialists have left their mark here. The penal settlement, cement works ruins and a number of modest houses, some isolated from Darlington, are their most conspicuous legacies.

Not into history? What about wildlife? When we camped here those 40 or so years ago I had the interesting experience of being attacked by one of the emus that wandered the place. These big birds have the disconcerting ability to look at you at eye level as well as long claws on their long spindly legs. Fortunately, I fought off the beast. Thankfully, the emus are no more. Now there are the far-less-threatening Cape Barren Geese, a species indigenous to Tasmania and its Bass Strait islands and so named for one of them. Of great interest to the grandkids were the geese with young chicks that grazed on the lawn of Darlington’s quadrangle.

The Cape Barren goose is a native of Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands, after one of which it takes its name.

So many options

You could spend days exploring Maria Island. Popular is the track south to Encampment Cove. The parks’ service says four hours one way, however we found the advised walks times to be for slower walkers. There is tent camping here, so if you plan to camp you will need to pack your bushwalking kit. Nearby are the ruins of a 1920s homestead and those of the Long Point Probation Station. Forty-five of so minutes further south is Frenchs Farm campsite. The parks’ service advise these camps make good bases for exploring the southern end of Maria Island.

For those wanting something more vertical and an alternative to the coast there is the route up Mt Maria, at 711m the island’s highest point. The trail rises through bushland and ends with a bit of a scramble over rough rocky slopes. A similar vertical ascent takes you to the summit of the slightly lower Bishop and Clark, the rocky spires seen from the Fossil Cliffs track.

Faster day trips to locations south of Darlington can be made by hiring a mountain bike when you book your ferry tickets. No riding on walking tracks.

To the Painted Cliffs

Lunch done in the mess hall in Darlington, we set off for the Painted Cliffs. Sandstone coloured in swirling patterns of orange, yellow and white will be familiar to residents of the NSW coastline, however Maria Island’s sandstone cliffs are a match for any of those on the Australian mainland. We did a sea level traverse. The grandkids went well. I told them to be careful because the rock was slippery in places. That was just before I slid knee deep into the water. A nice graze on the knee from that minor misadventure.

The Painted Cliffs are a sandstone formation displaying paterns of colour.

These are low cliffs but the coloured patterns make up for any lack of height. From Darlington, the cliffs are an easy 4.3km walk through open coastal country along a service road.

The Fossil Cliffs and Painted Cliffs are in different directions from Darlington, which makes the shelter building in the Darlington settlement a good place for lunch. With an eight and ten year old they make a full day if you catch an early as well as the last ferry for the day.

Walking with kids

The two walks were no trouble for the eight and ten year old. With Cape Barren Geese and their chicks and the numerous wombats, and the old industrial ruins and houses to explore along the way there was much to interest them.

They carried their rain jackets and bits and pieces in their Osprey packs and wore their puff jackets or fleece pullovers for most of the time. Running shoes were adequate for the easy terrain. Pack hats for kids. Bring water. Muesli bars or fruit snacks keep them charged with energy. These two kept up a stream of chatter with the adults on the walk.

We were back at Darlington before the last ferry of the day departed. Having had a day of sunshine, wind and a passing hail shower, as we sat waiting for the ferry the weather decided to farewell us with another hail shower. In contrast to the smooth journey over, the ferry thumped its way across the swells on the way back, the sea water splashing across the window.

On the track to Encampment Cove. The older grandchild decided Fi was not carrying enough, so she loaded her with her pack. Bishop and Clark in the background.

“Let’s go outside again and sit at the front”, the older one said as we came into calmer waters. The blast of wind we encountered on stepping outside soon put an end to that idea and to a good day on Maria Island, so close but so apart from the Tasmanian mainland.

Old structures tell of Maria Island’s post-convict era past. The silos on the shore, where the ferry from Triabunna berths, stored cement from the cement works.

What do you need to visit Maria Island?

First, a national parks pass which visitors can get at the ferry wharf. Tasmanians might go for a one or two year pass which gives access to all the state’s national parks.

Second, the ferry ticket. The ferry is a modern, two deck, high speed catamaran with coffee and snacks available on board.

Third, if you are overnighting or spending a few days on the island — accommodation. There are basic bunkrooms in the renovated penitentiary or you can opt for the tent site close by. The Darlington campsite is sheltered in a copse of casuarina and has a large, open sided camp kitchen and coin-operated showers. Book campsites when booking your ferry ticket and parks’ pass.

Be prepared for windy, sometimes wet and cold weather. Bring appropriate clothing. A pair of walking shoes will take you everywhere. We wore runners.

There are no shops of cafes on Maria Island. Bring all the food and other supplies you will need. There is water at Darlington campsite, toilets, solar shopwers for $1. Bring a small recharge battery for your mobile phone if you use it as a camera or for navigation, or recharge in the shelter building. Bring sun cream and carry water on walks.