A tiny speck of land with generations of history etched into every hill

Maria Island has been witness to a huge human history at odds with its size and remote location, off Tasmania's east coast. On this speck in the Tasman Sea, the Tyreddeme people wintered for millennia; convicts were quartered in miserable conditions on wind-smashed hillsides; farmers grazed sheep; and an Italian-born visionary, Diego Bernacchi, sought to fashion a kingdom of sorts, establishing vineyards, cement works, a grand hotel and a coffee palace that still stands today. Just this one picture is rich in stories. Bernacchi's vineyards once marched in straight rows down this hill. At its top, where spindly trees have bent to the will of the wind, Mrs Hunt's Cottage was built in the early 1900s on the ruins of the 1846 magistrate's residence. From here, Ruby Hunt operated a pedal wireless, transmitting telegrams and weather reports to Hobart. In the 1960s, Cape Barren Geese were among threatened species brought to Maria in a bid to secure their survival, the Tassie devil being the latest to join the ark.