Maria Island is a small island that lies off the east coast of the Australian state of Tasmania . It is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) long by 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide. The Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman visited the island in 1642. He named it in honor of Maria Van Diemen. Van Diemen was the wife of Anthony Van Diemen , who was at that time the governor general of the Dutch colony of the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia ). Tasman named what is now Tasmania after the governor general, and for many years it was known as Van Diemen’s Land.
In the early 1800’s, Maria Island became a popular base for seal and whale hunters. The British established a penal colony at Darlington, in the northern part of the island, in 1825. They abandoned the penal colony in 1832 in favor of Port Arthur on Van Diemen’s Land. In the 1840’s, colonial authorities established several probation stations on Maria Island, including one at Darlington. At these stations, convicts primarily tended crops. If they behaved well, they could eventually work for private employers and earn money (see Convicts in Australia (Van Diemen’s Land) ). One of the best-known prisoners during this period was William Smith O’Brien . O’Brien was transported from the United Kingdom to Australia in 1848 for his part in an Irish rebellion.
When the transportation of convicts to Van Diemen’s Land ended in the 1850’s, the settlement was opened to private enterprise. Sheep farming soon became important. In 1884, wine- and silk-producing industries were established on the island. In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, cement works operated at Darlington. By the mid-1920’s, about 500 people lived in Darlington. Heavy losses caused the cement works to close in 1930, and most of the people moved to the mainland. In the 1960’s, the Tasmanian government made Maria Island a wildlife reserve. In 1972, it became a national park.
In 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO ) made the Darlington Probation Station and 10 other former Australian penal settlements a World Heritage Site, recognizing them as areas of cultural importance.
