Painted Cliffs and Fossil Cliffs on Maria Island

Painted Cliffs

A popular walk is to the Painted Cliffs past Hopground Beach. You start from the sign near the Ranger's office and you can walk along the road if you prefer. In the rock pools you can often find chitons, mussels, Neptune`s necklaces, barnacles and sea lettuce.


All the patterns in the Painted Cliffs are caused by water running down through the sandstone and leaving traces of iron oxides which occurred millions of years ago. Recently sea spray hitting the rock face has dried to form crystals of salt. Some people say that if you look hard enough at the cliffs you will see a Santa Claus face.

It is a really good walk and there are lots of interesting things to see on the way.

Fossil Cliffs

It is quite an easy walk to the Fossil Cliffs and on the way you can look at the Old Cement Factory. You can go to the top of the cliffs or there is quite an easy path to the bottom. They were used for cement production at one time and they have been quarried.

The cliffs are made of limestone and at their tallest part they are only about one hundred metres in height. From the top it is a really great view and it gives you a bit of an idea of what the "other side" of the island is like because you can see a fair way into the distance. You can look out on the "Ile du Norde" (Some people call this Rabbit Island) and "Bird Rock". (It's pretty easy to guess why Bird Rock is called Bird Rock!).

There are lots of fossils: sea lilies and sea fans, and different sorts of corals. The water used to cover the top of the Fossil Cliffs millions of years ago. In fact, Maria Island was a volcano and you can still see some of the parts where the lava has been. It is a blackish bluish colour. At the bottom of the cliffs you can see where the old railway tracks are.

Walking to the Fossil Cliffs is a good opportunity to also visit the Old Cement Factory, the Miller's Cottage, the Convict Barn and the old Cemetery.