Buildings on Maria Island

Darlington

Tours of Darlington are available daily throughout summer or by asking at the Commissariat Store of the Rangers' Station. They are a good opportunity to learn more about the history of the island and to have a look in some of the areas that are usually kept locked.

At the butcher's there are still the frames where they used to hang the meat. In the baker's they had a huge stove that was set in the wall. They had to cook about six hundred loaves of bread a day.

The old chapel is set up like a museum and it had a lot of old horseshoes, chairs, bottles, jugs and even a blue and white porcelain toilet bowl left over from the many historical eras that the island has experienced.

The house next to the old chapel is Smith O'Brien's Cottage. There was a famous convict, a political prisoner, called Smith O' Brien who tried to escape so they kept him in the roof for three or four months.

	When Bernacchi came, he pulled down the convicts separate apartment cells and put up the Coffee Palace. He put it up because when the men came home from working at the cement works, they could go there and read books and listen to music .
In the early 1900's, Rosa Adkins took over the Coffee Palace and turned it to a Boarding House. When Bernacchi had the Coffee Palace, there was a servant who slept in the attic. People said that sometimes they see a light in the attic which is her ghost. When Parks and Wildlife took over Maria Island they let school groups stay in there to stay and some of them kicked the walls in. In 1996 they restored the front three rooms. They put a mat and the pianola and chairs in there. When groups from our school stay on Maria Island it is a favourite place for many people. There is also a room set up like a restaurant with models of partly eaten food and drinks. It can be quite an eerie place to visit.

When Orford Primary School students stay on the island we stay in the old penitentiary which has been upgraded for school groups like ourselves. It was quite comfortable and warm at night but once each one of the rooms used to house sixty-six convicts.

The Commissariat Store

This is the oldest building on Maria Island and it is older than all the buildings at Port Arthur. The building was completed in 1825. Now it is used as an information centre for visitors. There are free pamphlets and lots of information about Maria island. There is a big model of Maria Island inside. It even shows the boundaries of the Marine Reserve. All around the walls there are historic photos and posters. There are some whale bones as well.

Howells's Cottage

Howells's Cottage is not far from Hopground Beach. The walls were made of packing cases and covered in layers of newspapers and wallpaper. The date on some of the newspapers was 1924 and you can still read some of it quite clearly.

Mrs Hunt's Cottage

Mrs Hunt's cottage is on the hill overlooking the jetty and Darlington. It has a beautiful view and was in an excellent position for her to see when the mail boat was coming of a Tuesday. She used to hang a lantern in her window to help guide boats into the bay in rough weather. She also used to operate the only pedal wireless on the island. Next to the house you can see the foundations where Major Lord used to have his house in the convict era.