Maria Island: A National Park in Australia

Maria Island, is a national park of Australia, located on the southeastern coast of the state Tasmania in the Pacific Ocean. Maria Island is seperated from mainland Tasmania by Mercury Passage and measures 19 km long and 13 km wide, with an area of 9672 hectares (24,000 acres).

The island has 2 large bays, Riedle on the eastern side and Oyster on the western side, separated by a narrow sandy isthmus. It has a mountain which rises to 710 meters, and is surrounded with steep, heavily fossilized cliffs overlooking the sea. The eroded sandy rocks create wonderful natural scenery in the middle of the sea, which attract tourists from all over the world, who come by ferryboats from triabunna seaport on the main land.

Maria Island was declared as a protected area in 1971, and its surroundings were also declared as a protected area for the marine life.

Original plants
The vegetation cover of the island constitutes of open forests and gullies filled with ferns. The island was evacuated from cattles; therefore the original plants started to grow again normally.

Its is only inhabited now by the native animals such as the Eastern Gray Kangaroo which doesn't has hooves that ruin the vegetation cover.

The Old Prison
In addition to the rugged scenery, the island is also famous for the ruins of 19th-century penal colony. From 1825 to 1832, and again in the 1840, there was a penal settlement at Darlington, on the north end of the island. The convicts were eventually moved to port Arthur, on mainland Tasmania.

Dutch navigator Abel Tasman was the first to see Maria Island, in 1642. He named it after Maria Van Diemen, the wife of the governor-in-chief of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia).

Photos & Text: Christo Baars
Christo Baars, a Dutch nature photographer, contributes monthly photo features to Environment & Development magazine.
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