Introduction to Maria Island

Maria Island is off the east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It has an area of 9 672 hectares and consists of two land masses joined by a sandy isthmus. To get to Maria Island you need to catch a ferry from Triabunna. It takes approximately fifty minutes by ferry to reach the island.

Maria is over 20 kilometres long and 13 kilometres across at its widest point .Maria Island has spectacular limestone and sandstone cliffs, sparkling white sandy beaches and a coastal mountain range with lush gullies. It is quite a big island and impossible to see in a day. You can camp on the island. Maria Island is now a National Park. The National Park covers the whole area with the boundary at the low tide mark.

The Maria Range forms the spine of the northern part of the island from Mt Bishop and Clerk in the north (630 metres) to Mt Maria (709 metres) in the south and ending at Perpendicular Mountain (340 metres). There are cliffs on eastern parts of the island. The south of the island is much less mountainous.

The reason we have a web site on Maria Island is that it is a special place to many of us at Orford Primary School. Read some comments by some of our students.

"I don't know why Maria Island is special to me, but it is. Maybe it's because of the beautiful scenery and animals. I like the smell of Maria Island. It smells fresh all year round. I also like the atmosphere. You don't have to listen to dogs barking, trucks, motor bikes or hoons revving their cars. I like Chinamans Bay the best because it is not crowded. Maria Island is a peaceful place and one day I would like to work there as a ranger."

"Maria Island is important to me because I had always wanted to go there. Whenever we came to stay at Nan's I always looked at it and Mum said that if we ever came to live here at Triabunna we would go there. So I watched and waited. The first time I actually went to Maria Island was on our Orford School Camp last year. I loved the place so much that I didn't want to come home. If I had one wish to live wherever I want to in the world, it would be Maria Island because it is so peaceful and slow."

"Maria Island is special to me because sometimes I sit up in my cubby house and look at Maria Island and think about things like what to do, how to do it, where to go and life and death."

"I love Maria Island because it has such an amazing history. You can't help thinking about all the convicts and the things that happened to people long ago. It is a beautiful place with native animals everywhere."