Maria Island — a convict island off Tasmania

Where: Tasman Sea, off east Tasmania
about 4 km offshore at its closest
Coordinates: 42.6333° S
148.0833° E
Size: 115.5 km², all national park
Mount Maria 711 m (Wikipedia)
People: No residents but rangers
(Wikipedia)
World Heritage: Darlington Probation Station
Australian Convict Sites, 2010
Getting there: Passenger ferry from Triabunna
about 30 min (Encounter Maria Island)
Advisory: Australia Level 1

From Tally’s diary

Wombats were grazing the lawns between old brick buildings with small, serious windows, and not one of them looked up. I slept in one of those rooms, beside a wood stove, and was quieter than usual. In the morning, at low tide, I walked under cliffs swirled orange and cream like the inside of a cut log, and kept my hands to myself, which was difficult.

The short answer

Maria Island, wukaluwikiwayna in palawa kani, is a mountainous island in the Tasman Sea off the east coast of Tasmania, about four kilometres from the mainland at its closest point. Wikipedia gives its area as 115.5 square kilometres, all of it within Maria Island National Park, which also takes in a strip of sea off the north-west coast. The island is shaped like a figure of eight: a larger northern half, where Mount Maria rises to 711 metres, and a smaller southern one, joined by a narrow isthmus about three kilometres long. Nobody lives on it now except park rangers, Wikipedia records. Visitors come by passenger ferry from Triabunna, a small town about 86 kilometres north-east of Hobart, to the old settlement of Darlington at the northern end. The Dutch navigator Abel Tasman named the island in 1642 after Maria van Diemen, the wife of the governor-general in Batavia; Tasmanians say it “muh-RY-uh”.

Why it's worth knowing

Maria Island has been used hard and given back. In 1825, Tasmania’s Parks and Wildlife Service records, Lieutenant Governor Arthur set up a penal settlement at Darlington to relieve the one at Macquarie Harbour on the west coast. It became known among convicts as a place of ease and was soon notorious for escapes across the water, and by 1832 it had been given up in favour of Port Arthur. From 1842 to 1850 the island was a convict probation station again, a mainly agricultural one. The Parks and Wildlife Service calls Darlington the most representative and intact example of a probation station in Australia, with fourteen convict buildings and ruins still laid out as the system intended; in 2010 UNESCO inscribed it as one of the eleven sites that make up the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage property.

Then came the promoters. In 1884 the Italian entrepreneur Diego Bernacchi took a long lease on the island, and Wikipedia records that he renamed Darlington “San Diego” and opened a Grand Hotel in 1888 to sell the place as a resort. His first company failed; he came back in the 1920s to quarry the limestone around the Fossil Cliffs for cement, and, by the Parks and Wildlife Service’s account, production had stopped by 1930. Farming families followed until the Tasmanian Government bought out their land and made the whole island a national park. The penitentiary that once held convicts now sleeps visitors in bunk rooms with wood heaters.

The field notes

Painted, and packed with shells

The Painted Cliffs, a walk of about 4.3 kilometres there and back from Darlington by way of Hopground Beach, are sandstone stained into bands and swirls by groundwater seeping through the rock, the Parks and Wildlife Service explains, and worn by waves and spray into honeycomb patterns and potholes. They can be reached only at low tide and in calm seas; the Service says the rock platform is safest within two hours of low tide and warns of slippery rock, falling stones and storm surges. On the other side of Darlington, the Fossil Cliffs are limestone crowded with the shells of clams, scallops and corals, sea fans and sea lilies laid down in the sea around 300 million years ago, along with stones dropped there by drifting ice. The Service calls the exposure the best example of lower Permian rock in Tasmania, and notes how common one thick-shelled mussel, Eurydesma, is in it.

An ark, and what it cost

From the late 1960s animals were brought to the island, Wikipedia records, among them Cape Barren geese, eastern grey kangaroos and red-necked wallabies, and wombats now graze across its clearings in the open. The Parks and Wildlife Service asks visitors to keep two metres from all wildlife. In 2012, because devil facial tumour disease had cut Tasmanian devil numbers across the state, the Service released fifteen devils on Maria Island as a breeding population kept away from the disease. The island’s birds paid for it. In June 2021 ABC News reported Eric Woehler of BirdLife Tasmania as saying that about 3,000 pairs of little penguins had lived on Maria Island before the devils came, and that a Parks and Wildlife survey some eighteen months after their release found every colony empty. BirdLife Tasmania and other groups had warned beforehand that this would happen.

wukaluwikiwayna

Long before any of this, the island was part of the country of the Oyster Bay nation. The Parks and Wildlife Service records that Aboriginal people crossed to wukaluwikiwayna by canoe for thousands of years, that the people of the island were known as the Puthikwilayti, and that a highly prized source of ochre may have been one of the main reasons they came. More than a hundred Aboriginal heritage items are recorded on the Aboriginal Heritage Register for Maria Island and neighbouring Ile du Nord, most of them shell middens and scatters of stone tools, and the Service says the Aboriginal community today continues its people’s connection with the island. The French expedition of Nicolas Baudin met the island’s people in 1802, Wikipedia records.

Layered pale cliffs along a calm bay below a forested ridge with a jagged summit, under a white sky — Fossil-bearing cliffs below Bishop and Clerk, January 2012.

Photograph: Geoff Derrin · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped

A sandstone building with a hipped roof on a grassy slope above a long jetty, below a forested mountain — The stone store and jetty at Darlington, May 2019.

Photograph: Cecilia Broderick · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped

A black-and-white photograph of a row of white cottages beyond a creek, with a fenced track, a moored sailing boat and tall gum trees — Darlington about 1870: cottages, a creek and a moored boat.

Photograph: Unknown photographer, c.1870 (Tasmanian Archives) · Public domain · cropped

A wombat grazing on short sunlit grass — A wombat grazing in the open, December 2019.

Photograph: Guido Rudolph · CC0

Tally’s list

Pack everything you mean to eat before you board, and then a little more. The walking will see to the rest.
Time the coloured cliffs to the low tide and a calm sea, look with your eyes rather than your fingers, and keep an ear on the water behind you.
Give every wombat the right of way and a long stride of room. It is at home, and you are visiting.
Remember whose country this island was before it was anybody’s prison, and leave every shell and chip of stone exactly where it lies.
Stay the night and bring the list up to date by the wood stove. I added a good deal more than I crossed off, and the stove saw all of it.

The Relic

Eurydesma, in the Fossil Cliffs. A thick-shelled mussel, one of the shells packed into the limestone of the Fossil Cliffs east of Darlington, laid down in the sea around 300 million years ago, by the Parks and Wildlife Service’s account, among sea fans, corals and sea lilies and stones dropped by drifting ice. The limestone around these cliffs was quarried for the island’s cement works in the 1920s, until production stopped by 1930.

Tally, in the marginA mussel, set into a cliff that somebody once meant to grind into cement. I had been admiring the cliff for some time before I noticed it was mostly mussel.

Getting there

How to get there. Triabunna is on the Tasman Highway about 86 kilometres north-east of Hobart, according to Wikipedia. Encounter Maria Island runs the passenger ferry from there to the jetty at Darlington; the operator gives the crossing as about thirty minutes, and the Parks and Wildlife Service as about forty-five. By the timetable Encounter publishes, the ferry sails every day from September to April except Christmas Day, and less often from May to August, with no sailings on Tuesdays or Thursdays; check the current timetable, since it changes. Bicycles can be hired with the ferry ticket and collected on the island, and most of the island’s tracks can be ridden, Wikipedia notes, though not its beaches or its two mountain tracks.

When to go. September to April, when the ferry runs daily. Whatever the season, time a walk to the Painted Cliffs for within two hours of low tide, on a calm day.

What to arrange ahead. A ferry booking, which the Parks and Wildlife Service says is essential, and a Tasmanian national parks pass, which it asks you to carry on the ferry. There are no shops or cafes on the island, the Service says, so bring all your food, a refillable water bottle and warm, waterproof clothes; Triabunna is the place to stock up. To stay the night, book a room in the old penitentiary, up to six months ahead: nine bunk rooms sleep six and a tenth sleeps fourteen, with wood heaters but no electricity. The campground at Darlington takes no bookings.

Safety. The State Department has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level. On the island, keep off the Painted Cliffs’ rock platform when the tide is up or the sea is rough, and watch where you step: Wikipedia records that all three of Tasmania’s snake species live there.

Mark this place

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Common questions

Where is Maria Island?

Maria Island is a mountainous island in the Tasman Sea off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, about four kilometres from the mainland at its closest point. Its 115.5 square kilometres are all within Maria Island National Park, and its only settlement is the old convict station of Darlington.

How do you get to Maria Island?

By the Encounter Maria Island passenger ferry from Triabunna, about 86 km north-east of Hobart, to Darlington; the operator gives the crossing as about thirty minutes. The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service says a ferry booking is essential and that visitors need a national parks pass, which they should carry on the ferry.

Can you stay overnight on Maria Island?

Yes. The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service rents bunk rooms in the convict-built penitentiary at Darlington on Maria Island, nine sleeping six and one sleeping fourteen, with wood heaters and no electricity, bookable up to six months ahead. A campground at Darlington takes no bookings. There are no shops, so visitors bring their own food.

What are the Painted Cliffs on Maria Island?

The Painted Cliffs are sandstone cliffs on Maria Island, off Tasmania, stained into swirling bands by groundwater and worn into honeycomb patterns by the sea. They are about 4.3 km there and back on foot from Darlington, and the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service says they are safest to visit within two hours of low tide.

What fossils are in the Fossil Cliffs on Maria Island?

Clams, scallops, corals, sea fans and sea lilies, laid down in the sea around 300 million years ago, according to the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, which calls the Fossil Cliffs near Darlington the best example of lower Permian rock in Tasmania. The thick-shelled mussel Eurydesma is especially common in them.

Why are there Tasmanian devils on Maria Island?

In 2012 the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service released fifteen Tasmanian devils on Maria Island to keep a breeding population away from devil facial tumour disease. In 2021 BirdLife Tasmania’s Eric Woehler told ABC News that the island’s little penguins, about 3,000 pairs beforehand, had since disappeared.

Why is Darlington on Maria Island World Heritage listed?

Darlington Probation Station on Maria Island, a penal settlement from 1825 to 1832 and a convict probation station from 1842 to 1850, is one of the eleven sites of the Australian Convict Sites, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010. The Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service calls it the most intact example of a probation station in Australia.

Is Australia safe to visit?

The U.S. State Department has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions, its lowest level (advisory dated 30 May 2025). On Maria Island in Tasmania, the Parks and Wildlife Service warns of slippery rocks, falling stones and storm surges at the Painted Cliffs, which it advises visiting only at low tide in calm seas.

Notes on sources. This entry draws on the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service (parks.tas.gov.au), as indexed, for: the penal settlement of 1825, set up under Lieutenant Governor Arthur to relieve Macquarie Harbour; its reputation among convicts as a place of ease, its escapes and its abandonment by 1832 for Port Arthur; the mainly agricultural probation station of 1842–1850; Darlington as the most representative and intact probation station in Australia, with fourteen convict buildings and ruins (the federal environment department’s heritage page, cited by Wikipedia, counts thirteen intact buildings and structures; the page gives the Service’s figure); Bernacchi’s lease of 1884, the National Portland Cement Company and the end of cement production by 1930; the Painted Cliffs walk of 4.3 km return by Hopground Beach, the staining by groundwater, the honeycomb weathering, access only at low tide and in calm seas, safest within two hours of low tide, and the hazards; the Fossil Cliffs’ clams, scallops, corals, sea fans and sea lilies of around 300 million years ago, the ice-rafted dropstones, the lower Permian exposure and Eurydesma; the two-metre distance from wildlife; the fifteen Tasmanian devils released in 2012 because of devil facial tumour disease; the canoe crossings to wukaluwikiwayna, the Oyster Bay nation, the Puthikwilayti, the ochre, the more than one hundred items on the Aboriginal Heritage Register for Maria Island and Ile du Nord, most of them middens and artefact scatters, and the continuing connection of today’s Aboriginal community; the ferry crossing of about 45 minutes and the need to book it; the national parks pass, carried on the ferry; the absence of shops and cafes and what to bring; and the penitentiary’s nine six-berth rooms and one fourteen-berth room, wood heaters, lack of electricity and bookings up to six months ahead, and the Darlington campground’s no-booking policy. Encounter Maria Island (encountermaria.com.au), the ferry operator, as indexed, supplied the crossing of about thirty minutes, the daily sailings from September to April except Christmas Day, the reduced winter timetable from May to August with no Tuesday or Thursday sailings, and the bicycle hire. UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre (whc.unesco.org), as indexed, supplied Darlington as one of the eleven Australian Convict Sites and the inscription in 2010. ABC News (abc.net.au, 22 June 2021), as indexed, reported Eric Woehler of BirdLife Tasmania on the roughly 3,000 pairs of little penguins before the devils, the empty colonies found by a Parks and Wildlife survey about eighteen months after the release, and the warnings given beforehand. Wikipedia’s articles on Maria Island, Darlington Probation Station and Triabunna, and the references they cite, supplied the palawa kani name, the area of 115.5 km² and the marine area, the distance of about 4 km from the mainland, the figure-of-eight shape and the isthmus of about 3 km, Mount Maria at 711 m, the rangers as the only residents, Triabunna at about 86 km from Hobart, Abel Tasman’s naming in 1642 for Maria van Diemen and the local pronunciation, Bernacchi’s “San Diego” and the Grand Hotel of 1888, the farming families and the government purchase for the park, the animals introduced from the late 1960s, the snakes, Baudin’s encounter in 1802, and the cycling rules. Travel advisory: the United States has Australia at Level 1, exercise normal precautions (30 May 2025). Checked 4 October 2026 against the State Department’s advisory feed. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey. Last reviewed 4 October 2026.