Revealing Maria Island's hidden convict past

In this talk Dr Richard Tuffin will speak about the findings from a recent Australian Heritage Grant funded project on Maria Island. Jointly conducted with Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service the project involved geophysical investigations looking for places relating to Maria Island's first convict period (1825-32), as well as a landscape archaeological survey to characterise sites related to the pre-1830 period of occupation. This included looking for places of industry across the station’s hinterland, as well as the extent and form of the first penal settlement – which has never been fully explored. The project has resulted in a new public-facing webmap (part of our Convict Landscapes map suite) as well as the publication of a book. 

Richard Tuffin is a historical archaeologist currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of New England. He has worked as a research and commercial archaeologist in Australia, the Pacific and the UK.

Image: Robert Neill (attr), View of Darlington, Maria Island. Boathouse in foreground, flagpole in middle distance. Courtesy Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania.