Maria Island: Hiking & Wildlife

Maria Island — now a national park — was once a wildlife sanctuary. But even before that, Aboroginal people had a presence in the area for over 40,000 years. The Oyster Bay Tribe, whose homeland the island was, called it wukaluwikiwayna. They crossed the waters that we transited today on a comfortable boat in their canoes.

The island was first sighted by the “White Man” in 1772. Others passed by, but it wasn’t until 1789 that English explorers came ashore and documented the presence of the Aborigines.

In the 1800s, convicts from British Empire began to arrive at the island and it became another penal settlement. But more on that later.

Maria Island is vehicle-free … except for bikes. There’s also no food outlets, coffee shops, or other trappings of modern life. There is cell signal, but once away from the jetty, it’s useless for anything more than making phone calls. A getaway-from-it-all.

When we arrived at the Darlington jetty, we opted to go for a hike first while we were “fresh.” The trails ranged from ½-mile to over 17 miles and were described as easy or difficult.

The hike we had our heart set on — Painted Cliffs — turned out not to be recommended due to the late low tide today. It’s simply not possible to walk out to see the colorful cliffs unless the water has receded.

So, we turned our attention to a “Tasmania’s 60 Great Short Walks” trail … the Fossil Cliffs Circuit … about 2.5 miles … through the bush to the top of the cliffs … onward via the fossil quarry, the airstrip (for emergencies) and the cemetery … and back to the jetty. Beautiful views … amazing water color at the beach. The recommended time for the trail is 1-1.5 hours … we took twice as long, stopping frequently for photos and just to enjoy the solitude.

Remember how the island was once a wildlife sanctuary? Well, the animals that were transported here in the late 1960s as part of a species conservation program have flourished. We started seeing them, and others that are native to the island, almost from the get go … pied oystercatchers, native hens, gulls, wallabies, pademelons, kangaroos, potoroos, Cape Barren geese; blue tongued skinks, and more.

As the park ranger had advised us, most of the wildlife was in the bush … in the heavily wooded areas where shade was plentiful but photo ops were limited. No matter, we enjoyed spotting them. This was wildlife at its best … going about their daily business with little regard for the humans wandering through their habitats.

Once we completed the circuit, we headed to the penal settlement … which I will write about in the next footprint.Read more