Image: Top – The Maria Island webmap. Bottom left: View of the former Darlington convict station in the 1880s (Tasmanian Archives). Bottom right: The main settlement today (David Roe)

Maria Island, situated off the east coast of Tasmania, is a complicated landscape. It’s a place of stunning scenery and cute wildlife, a UNESCO World Heritage listed drawcard for the thousands who visit every year. Yet, as is so often the way with Tasmania, this bucolic landscape forms the backdrop to a history of dispossession, incarceration and untrammelled resource exploitation.

In 2022 UNE archaeologists Prof Martin Gibbs and Dr Richard Tuffin, in collaboration with Mike Nash, Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania, were awarded a $130,949 grant under the Australian Heritage Grants Program to conduct historical and archaeological investigations of the island’s main settlement, Darlington, and its hinterland.

During September and November 2022 the pair, aided by volunteers Hannah Waterhouse, Karen Welsh and Dr David Roe, conducted non-invasive geophysical investigations and LiDAR-derived survey to map the form and extent of the main periods of Maria Island’s past: the convict penal (1825-32) and probation (1842-52) periods, followed by the Bernacchi (1884-1897) and Industrial periods (1920-1930). Each of these phases have left an indelible mark on the island’s landscape.

As a result of this work a webmap and book have been produced. The webmap is part of a suite of similar maps examining the legacy of the convict system in Australia and is designed to provide an interpretive aid to visitors to the island. It shows the form and extent of infrastructure during the island’s four main phases, providing historical information in a mobile-ready format. A series of historical ‘stories’ are also traced, along with 360 imagery of the island as it is currently, providing the visitor with a new appreciation for how past meets present on the island.

Though not originally part of the initial project scope, the research for the fieldwork and webmap has also led to a book. Written to appeal to the visitor market, Maria Island: History and Landscapes 1825-1930 uses copious maps, illustrations and photographs to examine the island’s complex history.

The Maria Island webmap can be found at: https://www.convictlandscapes.com.au/

The book Maria Island: History and Landscapes 1825-1930 is currently available in bookstores.