Maria Island:

Maria Island is like two worlds smashed together.

Today? It’s all white-sand beaches, wombats wandering by, and killer hiking trails.

But back in the 1820s and 1840s? This place was a convict station, built on hard labour, isolation, and chains clinking beneath the gum trees.

It’s Tasmania’s hidden gem, a mix of natural beauty and brutal history. 

  Ferry from Triabunna:

• 30-minute ride across the water (watch for dolphins).
• No cars allowed, bring your walking shoes or a bike.
• The moment you land? You feel the isolation convicts must’ve felt too.

•   Darlington Probation Station Ruins:
  • Rows of convict-era buildings, cells, mess halls, the commissariat store, all beautifully preserved.
  • No tourist gloss, this place feels real.
• The Fossil Cliffs & Painted Cliffs:
  • Proof that nature doesn’t care about your convict sentence, these spots are jaw-dropping.
• Wombats and kangaroos:
  • Today’s locals, they roam where convicts once worked.
  • They don’t care about the history, but you will.

•   The Two Convict Phases:
  • First was the 1825 probation station, built to sweat out the rebellious convicts.
  • Shut down after just seven years (yeah, even the colonial government thought it was too much).
  • Revived in 1842 under the probation system, but that didn’t last long either.
• Convict Labour:
  • Timber, limestone, agriculture, you worked until you dropped.
  • The remoteness was the punishment, escape wasn’t an option.
• Nature Taking Over:
  • After the convicts left, the island went through crazy phases:
    • Silk production (yes, really).
    • Wine making.
    • Cement factory.
  • Today, the ruins stand quietly while wallabies bounce through the old cell blocks.

•  Stay overnight: There’s basic camping and accommodation at Darlington, wake up with the wildlife.
• Hike to Bishop and Clerk: For views that’ll knock your socks off (and make you forget about the leg burn).
• Bring food: No shops, no cars, just you, nature, and history.

Maria Island might look like paradise today, pristine beaches, wombats waddling past ruins, but back in the day? It was far from a holiday spot. Between 1825 and 1832, this little island off Tasmania’s east coast was a penal station, designed as a “halfway house”. Not quite as brutal as Macquarie Harbour, but a long way from easy.

Convicts sent here worked across industries: timber-cutting, tanning, shoemaking, cloth production. They even had a water-powered textile factory, a rare bit of tech for the time, humming away in this isolated corner of the world.

But here’s the kicker:

Escape attempts were constant. Between the island's isolation and the sheer willpower of desperate men, the place couldn’t keep control. By 1832, the convict population was packed up and shipped off to Port Arthur. The whole operation? Shut down.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Maria Island was given one more shot as a probation station in 1842, with a second outpost at Point Lesueur. This time the convicts worked the land, trying to make agriculture happen. Spoiler: overcrowding and chaos followed, and both stations folded by 1850.

Oh, and the convicts here weren’t just your usual suspects:

• William Smith O'Brien, a Young Irelander political rebel.
• Two Khoi prisoners from South Africa’s Cape Colony.
• Five Maori warriors, transported after clashes with the colonial government.

After the convicts were gone, the island saw waves of failed business schemes, from sheep farming to cement works (because why not?). Nothing stuck.

Today?

It’s a National Park, but the convict ruins are still there, quietly telling their stories to the winds and the waves.