No, I’m not talking about our hosts, generous though they are. I’m talking, rather, about Maria Island and what one entrepreneur said was needed to make it commercially successful!
Maria Island, whose indigenous name is Toara-Marra-Mona*, has a fascinating history, but I’m only going to give you a very potted one here – and then let the photos do the talking. In terms of recorded history (as I understand it), indigenous people, who had used the island for thousands of years, were sighted by Frenchman Nicolas Baudin in 1802. Next was the convict settlement, which came in two waves. The first, from 1825 to 1832, ended for various reasons including “laxity” of discipline, multiple escapes, and the opening of the infamous Port Arthur. Part of the problem may also have been because people “deliberately committed minor offences just to be sent to this island of ‘ease and pleasure’” (Tasmanian Parks & Wildlife Service)! The second convict period – operating as a probation station – ran from 1842 to 1850. An inmate of that time was William Smith O’Brien, a leader of the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. He is quoted as saying, as he arrived at Maria Island:
To find a gaol in one of the loveliest spots formed by the hand of Nature in one of her loneliest solitude creates a revulsion of feeling I cannot describe.
See why people may have committed crimes to come here? Anyhow, several buildings, complete and as ruins, dating from the 1820s on, survive, and are part of a World Heritage site comprising 11 convict sites in Australia.
Maria Island then became the site of some visionary commercial endeavours – hence the title of this post. One of these visionaries was Diego Bernacchi who from the 1880s tried several industries – wine, silk and cement. During this time the Grand Hotel opened (in 1888), advertising itself as:
The Riviera of Australia, for health, sport and amusement.
Hmm, Riviera? Must say, though, the island is beautiful, and as we sat on the hotel ruins on a sunny day, we could imagine sipping a little French Champagne and contemplating the universe. Unfortunately, Bernacchi’s enterprises failed by the end of the century.
Undeterred it seems, he returned a couple of decades later, and in the 1920s the National Portland Cement Company was formed. However, stout hearts and long purses could not save them all from the Great Depression. People continued to live on the island afterwards, farming, fishing and supporting tourism, until National Parks took over in 1972. They located various endangered Tasmanian species on the island, including most recently the Tasmanian Devil.
Maria Island, today, is the home of these critters, rangers and tourists (of the hardier variety). There is no commercial activity here – that is, there are no shops, hotels or restaurants. You can camp, or book one of the rooms in the old (unpowered) penitentiary. Access to the island is by ferry. It is a peaceful place to visit, and we can see why people love it.
We, though, were particularly lucky as we were accompanied by our very own Maria Island historical expert, Ian, who was a consultant on the interpretation program that was developed nearly twenty years ago but is still running today in the Coffee Palace (1880s). We were given an informed tour of the historic buildings, which included listening to excerpts of oral histories with past residents, and then led on a natural history tour to the stunning Fossil Cliffs. However, you know how they say there is a silver lining to every cloud, BUT did you know that the opposite is also true? We were promised wombats. “I’ve never seen so many wombats”, he (our wonderful guide) said, “as we saw on our visit here in July. There were dozens of them”. So we looked, and we looked, and we looked, but nary a wombat did we see. The day came to an end, as it must; we hopped back on the ferry, as we had to; and what did our co-passengers say they’d seen? We’ll leave it to you to guess …
Fortunately, after all this, we were treated upon our return to a delicious dinner comprising a gluten-free spinach pie made with sheep’s yoghurt and goat’s feta, followed by a gluten-free rhubarb and almond cake. We heartily recommend this boutique hotel – even if the tour-leader doesn’t always deliver all he promises**!
* Our Maria Island guru tells us that the palawa kani (modern Tasmanian Aboriginal language) name for Maria Island is apparently wukaluwikiwayna, which should be expressed just as I’ve given it here, that is, in italics and all in lower case.
** Just ask his parents. They can tell you a wombat story too!
And now the pictures which, as you will see, tell more than a thousand words …
A panorama of the Fossil Cliffs…
And the Kelp from Dr Who…
I don’t know what The Historian has done to deserve it but wombats seem reluctant to put on their show for his close relatives, having failed to put in their promised appearance in another area on an occasion some years ago. (We did see an echidna on that trip though.) However, I can vouch for his fairy penguin display further up the coast. Maybe one day the wombats will co-operate for us meantime we will have to enjoy verbal reports, his photos and TV performances which do corroborate their presence. I am as sorry you missed them as I am sure The Historian/Tour Guide was.
Loved your photos -we had not known of or visited the fossil cliffs (maybe our age precluded them from our various conducted tours of the island). Kelp was interesting, too, but if you want to see kelp go on the coastal boat trip down the south coast. THAT IS KELP!
I don’t know that the historian/tour guide was THAT sorry. He seemed cavalierly unapologetic to us! Nonetheless we still tipped him a magnum (ice cream) so we must have been happy enough. As for kelp, do you mean the south coast of Tasmania?
I assume you meant a magnum of the ice cream variety? Yes – the Tasmanian south coast trip which takes you just into the Southern Ocean (and it felt like it when we did it!).
Haha Mum, yes, not the weapon variety. And thanks for clarifying the south coast you were talking about.
So, first, that dinner sounds incredible and I want the recipes. Second, Elly and I were just talking the other day about how much more magical it is when you stumble across wildlife (we were talking about whales in particular) out of the blue rather than when youv’e gone somewhere with the expectation of seeing them. In the former, you feel like it’s a magical treat just for you, and with the latter, even if you see them, there’s kind of an “oh well, we expected that”, and if you don’t, you feel gypped, even though it’s not like you own nature! Human brains are funny things 🙂
But seriously, that spinach pie!
You’ll have to ask Helen for the recipe, Hannah, but it was yum. And yes, I totally know what you mean by running, figuratively speaking, into nature! Always exciting, when it happens.