Maria Island : 4-Day paddle and walk into historyDURATION: 4 days, 3 nights TOUR STYLE: Expedition, camping COST: AU $1290 (valid to 30/06/12) Discover the intriguing, and breathtaking Maria Island – an island rich in aboriginal, convict and European heritage. Maria Island is a special place - with historic ruins, sweeping bays, rugged cliffs and remarkable wildlife.
Tour Details: Maria Island Expedition tour notes, itinerary and inclusions Schedule: Departure dates for Maria Island and our other Expedition tours.
Description Discover the intriguing, and breathtaking, Maria Island – an island rich in aboriginal, convict and European heritage. Maria Island is a special place - with historic ruins, sweeping bays, rugged cliffs and remarkable wildlife. The 'sea level' experience offered by a sea kayak provides a truly unique perspective of this spectacular coastal wilderness. Discover the feeling of freedom and rejuvenate in fresh sea air.
About Maria Island
Tasmanian Aborigines are thought to have inhabitated the Island for 30,000 years, evident by the shell middens on the Island. The present name dates from 1642, when explorer Abel Tasman sighted it and named it in honour of Maria Van Diemen, the wife of the governor of Batavia.
Maria Island has undergone many changes since the first crude camps of whalers and sealers were set up on its shores in the early 1800s. By 1825 Maria had become a British penal settlement. Darlington is the most representative and intact example of a probation station in Australia, and has recently been listed as part of the Australian Convict World Heritage Sites. The now tranquil island has also been, a stronghold for the varied enterprises of Italian entrepreneur Diego Bernacchi, and a base for the National Portland Cement Company. Each layer of history has left its mark on the island's landscape. Structures have been erected, altered, re-used and demolished in each phase of settlement, leaving a complex, but intriguing legacy of historic heritage. Maria's natural heritage is equally rich. Since the late 1960s Maria has become a kind of Noah's Ark, as a number of threatened species have been introduced here in a bid to protect their species. Some of the waters around Maria Island are a Marine Nature Reserve, recognising the special nature of the marine life to be found here. (Source: National Parks & Wildlife Tasmania).
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