There are two towns of size in this part of the east coast: Orford at the mouth of the Prosser River and Triabunna, some eight kilometres (5 mi) further north at the head of Spring Bay.

Rock lobster, scalefish, scallops and abalone are taken near the island by both commercial and recreational fishermen, and mussels are farmed in Mercury Passage.

[6] In 1802 the French expedition led by Nicolas Baudin encountered the Aboriginal people of Maria Island, as did the whalers of the early 19th century.

[8] Among those held during the second era was the Irish nationalist leader William Smith O'Brien, exiled for his part in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848.

His cottage still exists in the nearby former penal colony Port Arthur to where he was deported after his time on Maria Island.

Three structures from the first convict era remain in the Darlington area: the Commissariat Store built in 1825 and presently used as the park's reception and visitor centre; the convict penitentiary, completed in 1828 and now used to accommodate visitors rather than detain them; and the convict-built dam on Bernacchis Creek, which still provides Darlington's water.

A small party of soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Peter Murdoch, and fifty male prisoners, arrived at the island aboard the ship Prince Leopold in March 1825.

After the arrival of a new Commandant, Major Thomas Lord, in August, more permanent buildings were erected using bricks made on the island and sandstone excavated from the sea cliffs.

Frequent escape attempts, complaints about relaxed discipline and the opening of Port Arthur in 1830 led to the decision to abandon the settlement in 1832.

From the 1880s, the Italian entrepreneur Diego Bernacchi set up island enterprises, including silk and wine production and a cement factory, quarrying limestone deposits at the Fossil Cliffs for the raw material.

The design and layout of the company town established by Bernacchi reflected prevailing ideas of paternalism, though archaeological survey found that the workers cottages had been individualised by their inhabitants.

[13] By July 1930, all of those ventures had failed for a number of reasons, including the Great Depression, poor quality limestone, and competition from mainland producers who were not burdened with high costs of transport.

Maria Island's potential for wine and silk production, fruit-growing and tourist developments attracted an Italian entrepreneur, Diego Bernacchi.

The opening of the Grand Hotel in 1888, complete with dining, billiard and accommodation rooms, saw the promotion of the island as a pleasure resort and sanatorium.

Afterwards, tourists continued to frequent the island where Rosa Adkins ran a boarding house in the former Coffee Palace.

Diego Bernacchi returned to Maria Island, determined to exploit the limestone deposits for cement and expand on his initial plans.

The annual report for 1923 revealed that a new 620-foot (190 m) pier had been constructed and that buildings were being erected, including a 200 ft (61 m) high chimney stack of reinforced concrete.

Unfortunately, production problems were experienced at the works from an early stage, and together with the effects of the Great Depression, caused the cessation of business in 1930.

Farming ended when the Tasmanian Government began purchasing properties from their owners in preparation for declaring the island a national park.

The Tasmanian Government resumed all of the island's freehold land and established the national park, proclaimed in 1971 and extended in 1991, to include part of the surrounding sea.

From the late 1960s various species of fauna were released onto the island, including mammals and birds such as Cape Barren geese and emus (from mainland Australia).

Emu numbers increased to an estimated 20–30 by the early 1980s, by which time it was decided they were a risk to visitors and efforts were made to eradicate them.

The highest point, Mount Maria, is in the northern part of the island and stands 711 metres (2,333 ft) above sea level.

[14] Fourteen distinct terrestrial plant communities occur on the island, which is mostly clothed in various forms of eucalypt forest.

Natural and historical clearings provide grazing for many animals, such as bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus) which occur in high quantities on the island[15] and Tasmanian pademelons.

Nearly all the island's animals are native to Tasmania although some, including eastern grey kangaroos, red-necked wallabies, and Cape Barren geese, were introduced during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

South-west of the Painted Cliffs and just outside the marine section of the park, a disused coastal trader was sunk in 2007 to form an artificial reef dive site.

A ferry sails multiple times a day from the town of Triabunna to the jetty in Darlington Bay at the northern end of Maria Island, a distance by sea of 16 km or nearly nine nautical miles.

Walking, bicycling, swimming, snorkelling, diving, bird watching, wildlife observation and relaxation are the main activities undertaken by visitors.

In 2007 a disused coastal trader, the Troy D, was scuttled outside the marine section of the national park, 1.7 kilometres (1.1 mi) west-southwest of the Painted Cliffs, with the intention of creating a dive wreck.