Australian Heritage Database
Places for Decision
Class: Historic 

Identification	
List: 	National Heritage List	
Name of Place: 	Darlington Precinct	
Other Names: 		
Place ID: 	105933	
File No: 	6/01/095/0020	
		
Nomination Date: 	24/08/2006	
Principal Group: 	Law and Enforcement	
 		
Status		
Legal Status: 	25/08/2006 - Nominated place	
Admin Status: 	05/09/2006 - Under assessment by AHC--Australian place	
 		
Assessment		
		
Recommendation: 	Place meets one or more NHL criteria	
Assessor's Comments: 		
Other Assessments: 	: 	
 		
Location		
Nearest Town: 	Darlington	
   Distance from town (km): 		
   Direction from town: 		
Area (ha): 	376	
Address: 	French Farm Coastal Route, Darlington, TAS 7190	
LGA: 	Glamorgan - Spring Bay Municipality TAS	
Location/Boundaries:
About 376ha, Darlington, Maria Island, comprising an area bounded by a line commencing at the intersection of MGA northing 5283570mN with the High Water Mark at approximate MGA point 586027mE 5283570mN, then via straight lines joining the following MGA points consecutively; 586078E 5283541N, 586154E 5283533N, 586257E 5283575N, 586273E 5283621N, 586339E 5283706N, 586438E 5283770N, 586522E 5283857N, 586589E 5283907N, 586782E 5283965N, 587048E 5283977N, 587148E 5284006N, 587194E 5284068N, 587215E 5284162N, 587327E 5284370N, 587547E 5284301N, 587627E 5284307N, 587655E 5284378N, 587575E 5284535N, 587579E 5284702N, 587609E 5284762N, 587685E 5284806N, 587704E 5284883N, 587730E 5284911N, 587784E 5284911N, 587903E 5284877N, 587981E 5284865N, 588036E 5284824N, 588158E 5284662N, 588430E 5284450N, 588669E 5284295N, 588720E 5284221N, 588752E 5284066N, 588804E 5284012N, 588893E 5283973N, 589015E 5283969N, 589201E 5284006N, 589303E 5284058N, 589327E 5284108N, 589303E 5284201N, 589136E 5284350N, 589013E 5284452N, 588927E 5284543N, 588822E 5284704N, 588804E 5284776N, 588824E 5284851N, 588889E 5285000N, 588911E 5285173N, then directly to the intersection of MGA northing 5285205mN (approximate MGA point 588941mE 5285205mN), then northerly and southerly via the High Water Mark to the point of commencement. Also included is the jetty located at Darlington Bay.
Assessor's Summary of Significance:
The probation system was the last major phase of convict management in eastern Australia, implemented following the abolishment of the highly criticised assignment system. It formed a significant part in the pattern of the nation’s convict history, first implemented in 1839 and continuing until 1854. The philosophy behind a probation station was to use classification, segregation, education, religious instruction and stages of punishment to reform and manage convicts. 
 
Of at least 78 probation stations established, Darlington Precinct hosts the most outstanding representative example with 13 intact structures set amongst a relatively unchanged landscape. Darlington Probation Station operated from 1842-1850.  Its isolated location made it an ideal choice for a probation station as it was away from free settlements, boasted an abundance of natural resources that could be exploited through convict labour, and being an island, it also deterred escape. 
 
Darlington Precinct demonstrates the representative characteristics of a probation station, an important phase of penal philosophy and convict management in Australia. The site is outstanding through its demonstration of systems of controlled labour, whereby convicts were classified into classes and separated and treated accordingly through labour, sleeping arrangements, eating and privileges. A system of education and moral redemption through religious instruction was a strong focus. The fabric remaining at the precinct relates closely to the probation system philosophy. The mess hall and school room represents the education of convicts. The chapel, clergyman’s quarters and religious instructors quarters depict the focus on religious schooling. The prisoners barracks and ruins of the separate apartments demonstrate the classification system for convicts, whereby well behaved convicts could live together in dormitories while the worst class was housed in separate apartments. The solitary cells demonstrate the use of isolation for punishment. The convict barn and oast house/hop kilns represent some of the task work undertaken by the convicts.  No other probation station in Tasmania, or Australia is able to demonstrate the manifestation of these characteristics in design features and relationship between the remaining structures as effectively as Darlington. Probation stations often employed architecture and topography to create a physical landscape that embodied 19th century reform principles and this is uniquely demonstrated at Darlington through the positioning of the remaining buildings.
 
As Australia’s most intact example of a convict probation station, Darlington Precinct is considered to be a rare and significant aspect of Australia’s cultural history. With a natural environment setting that has few competing elements, the precinct possesses a rare sense of place. The outstanding number of extant structures demonstrate evidence of original use and the intactness of the buildings and their relationship with each other uniquely demonstrates the philosophy behind the probation system. Together, these aspects contribute to the Darlington Precinct being an outstanding and unique aspect of Australia’s cultural history.
 
Darlington Precinct is significant for its association with the Governorship of Sir John Franklin.  Governor Franklin was Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania from 1837-1843 at a critical time in Australia's convict history, following the departure of Colonel Arthur and the Molesworth Inquiry into transportation.  Governor Franklin was responsible for establishing the probation system to replace the assignment system.  The probation system was a major feature of the convict system in Australia and Darlington Precinct is the most representative and intact example of this system.

Draft Values:	
Criterion	Values	Rating	
A Events, Processes	The probation system was the last major phase of convict management in eastern Australia, implemented following the abolishment of the highly criticised assignment system. It formed a significant part in the pattern of convict history, first implemented in 1839 and continuing until 1854. Darlington Probation Station operated from 1842-1850. The philosophy behind a probation station was to use classification, segregation, education, religious instruction and stages of punishment to reform and manage convicts. 
Of at least 78 probation stations established in Tasmania, Darlington Precinct hosts the most outstanding representative example with 13 intact structures set amongst a relatively unchanged landscape. Its isolated location made it an ideal choice for a probation station as it was away from free settlements and, being an island, it also deterred escape. 
The fabric remaining at the precinct relates closely to the probation system philosophy. The mess hall and school room represents the education of convicts. The chapel, clergyman’s quarters and religious instructors quarters depict the focus on religious schooling. The prisoners barracks and ruins of the separate apartments demonstrate the classification system for convicts, whereby well behaved convicts could live together in dormitories while the worst class was housed in separate apartments. The solitary cells demonstrate the use of isolation for punishment. The convict barn and oast house/hop kilns represent some of the task work undertaken by the convicts.  No other probation station in Tasmania, or Australia is able to demonstrate this strong association as effectively as Darlington Probation Station. 
 	AT	
B Rarity	As Australia’s most intact example of a convict probation station, Darlington is considered to be a rare and significant aspect of Australia’s cultural history. 
With a natural environment setting that has few competing elements, the precinct possesses a rare sense of place. The outstanding number of extant structures demonstrate evidence of original use. The intactness of the buildings and their relationship with each other uniquely demonstrates the philosophy behind the probation system. Together, these aspects contribute to the Darlington Precinct being an outstanding and unique aspect of Australia’s cultural history.
 	AT	
D Principal characteristics of a class of places	Darlington Precinct demonstrates the representative characteristics of a probation station, an important phase of penal philosophy and convict management in Australia. 
The site is outstanding through its demonstration of systems of controlled labour, whereby convicts were classified into classes and separated and treated accordingly through labour, sleeping arrangements, eating and privileges. A system of education and moral redemption through religious instruction was a strong focus. 
The precinct manifests these characteristics in its design features and relationship between the remaining structures. The mess hall and school room represents the education of convicts. The chapel, clergyman’s quarters and religious instructors quarters depict the focus on religious schooling. The prisoners barracks and ruins of the separate apartments and solitary cells demonstrate both isolation of the worst class of convicts, and the use of isolation for punishment. The convict barn, oast house/hop kilns represent some of the task work undertaken by the convicts.
 	AT	
H Significant people	Darlington Precinct is significant for its association with the Governorship of Sir John Franklin.  Franklin was Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania from 1837-1843 at a critical time in Australia's convict history, following the departure of Colonel Arthur and the Molesworth Inquiry into transportation.  Governor Franklin was responsible for establishing the probation system to replace the assignment system.  The probation system was a major feature of the convict system in Australia and Darlington Precinct is the most representative and intact example of this system.
 	AT	
Historic Themes: 
Nominator's Summary of Significance:
Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct demonstrate a rich complexity of Australian historical patterns including early European exploration of eastern Australia; early Australian whaling stations in remote locations; a place of secondary punishment for Australia's convicts (typically isolated from main settlements in a marine environment and suitable for using convicts to exploit resources with hard labour); a Convict Probation Station - adapting infrastructure from a previous convict period and again exploiting the security afforded by an island; and Australian entrepreneurial industrial ventures of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (including ambitions for a company town).

The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has outstanding heritage value to the Nation because of Maria Island's special association with revealing documentation of early contact between Indigenous Australia and European explorers. As the most tangible places of European settlement on Maria Island, the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is evocative of the interest in the place of early European explorers of this part of Australia, including du Fresne, Furneaux, Cox, Boudin and Kelly. 

The Darlington Probation Station on Maria Island is considered to be Australia's most intact example of a convict Probation Station on reserved land. The Probation System was used only in Van Diemens Land and at Norfolk Island and was an uniquely Australian approach to convict management, providing punishment to ensure that transportation remained a deterrent, but also opportunities for reform and betterment. The presence of the largely archaeological evidence of a second probation station at Point Lesueur adds to the richness of the two sites in demonstrating this period of Australian and world penal history. Darlington and Point Lesueur largely retain their convict period landscape settings including views and vistas, topography, plants and built elements combining to provide a physical chronicle of an eventful and dramatic past in a remote Tasmanian marine setting.

The Darlington Precinct is particularly outstanding in demonstrating the principal characteristics of Australian Convict Sites: including classification and segregation; dominance by authority and religion; the provision of accommodation for the convict, military and civil population; amenities for governance, punishment and healing; and the elements of place-building, agriculture and industry. Due to its isolated island status the convict and late 19th early 20th century agricultural and industrial heritage values of Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts are surprisingly intact (largely as an undisturbed archaeological resource). The convict barn in the Darlington Historic Precinct is a rare and particularly fine example of such an agricultural structure from an Australian convict station.

Areas in the Darlington Historic Precinct have the ability, through research and archaeological investigation to provide extensive evidence of the convict and post convict industrial processes in extracting stone, clay and lime and in making dressed stone, bricks, mortar and cement. The planning, structures and archaeology from the Bernacchi Periods of development at the Darlington Historic Precinct (1884-1896 & 1920-1930) contains rare evidence of late 19th and early 20th century attempts at planned industrial settlements in Australia including one of Australia¿s first attempts at large scale production of Portland cement.

The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with British convicts in Australia and their administrators in the period 1825 to 1850 exemplifying a European process of colonial settlement through worldwide forced migration. Governor Arthur: the Governor of Van Diemens Land at the time that Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts were established as probation station, was involved first hand in the rules and regulations which gave order to sites.

Darlington has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with Smith O'Brien, an Irish political prisoner, who was at first accommodated on Maria Island because of the high security afforded when O'Brien refused to give an undertaking not to attempt escape from the colony.

This place meets the following criteria:
(a) Being on an island relatively isolated from Hobart, Darlington and Maria Island generally have been sheltered from persistent progressive erosion by many small phases of development evident in many other coastal places in Tasmania and Australia. The major layers of Darlington's development are easily interpreted with the following historical patterns evident:
a place strongly connected with early European exploration of eastern Australia
a place with documented history and evidence of the early Australian whaling stations in remote locations.
a place of secondary punishment for Australia's convicts - typical isolated from the main settlement in a marine environment and suitable for putting convicts to hard labour in resource exploitation, agriculture (possibly including Tasmania's first hop cultivation), and in light industrial work.
a Convict Probation Station - adapting infrastructure from a previous convict period and again exploiting the security afforded by an island - where convicts from all backgrounds (not only repeat offenders and including political prisoners) were placed in a system of gradual redemption mostly through labour.
a place where convict infrastructure was adapted for a new industrial venture - yet amazingly retaining some of the heritage significance of the layout and structures of the convict period but exploiting further resources identified in the convict period and adding new significant structures related to industrial uses and a company town.
a place where its isolated island status has lead to it being ignored for development in the mid to late 20th centuries allowing it to be conserved for natural, recreational and historic values.

(b) The Darlington Probation Station on Maria Island is considered to be Australia's most intact example of a convict Probation Station on reserved land. The Probation System was used only in Van Diemens Land and at Norfolk Island and was a uniquely Australian approach to convict management, providing punishment to ensure that transportation remained a deterrent, but also opportunities for reform and betterment. The system is important in the context of both Australian and World penal history. 
Darlington contains rare evidence of many industrial and agricultural processes from the convict periods of settlement.
The planning, structures and archaeology from the Bernacchi Periods of development at the Darlington Historic Precinct (1884-1896 & 1920-1930) contains rare evidence of late 19th and early 20th century attempts at planned industrial settlements in Australia. In Tasmania the first Bernacchi industrial settlement (the Maria Island Company was floated in 1887) precedes other iconic and ultimately more successful industrial settlements - the Mt Lyell mine on the West Coast (est. 1892) and Hobart's E.Z. Risdon enterprise (est.1916).
In particular the relatively intact c. 1886 Bernacchi's Terraces and 1888 Coffee Palace at Darlington demonstrate how late 19th century Australian industrial entrepreneurs set up landscaped `company' towns complete with residential, educational, recreational and external tourism facilities, in the manner of the model British industrial town precedents.

(c) Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is evocative cultural landscapes which provide a window into the Nation's convict history.
The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct contain largely unexplored archaeological evidence which because of its integrity and authenticity provides a unique insight into the convict experience. 
In combination, the oral tradition, documentary evidence, structures, engineering relics, archaeological features and landscape at the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has outstanding potential for community education.
The structures, movable heritage items and the archaeology of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct contain evidence of Australian convict period technology, using available materials and adapted to suit local conditions.
Archival records and collections in the ownership of State Government provide a substantial research resource which, in conjunction with documentary evidence, have the potential to reveal and present much of the Darlington and Point Lesueur historic Precinct story. 
The subsurface and maritime archaeological deposits of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is a largely yet to explored finite resource of national, possibly international, research significance. Investigation and analysis of these deposits has the potential to provide a unique insight into convictism, from the material culture perspective.

(d) i. Australia's convict sites share patterns of environmental and social colonial history including classification and segregation; dominance by authority and religion; the provision of accommodation for the convict, military and civil population; amenities for governance, punishment and healing; and the elements of place building, agriculture and industry. The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts are outstanding in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an Australian Convict Site because:
The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct present important aspects of Australia's convict system including changing attitudes to punishment, reform, education and welfare;
The physical landscape and setting at the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct retain a high degree of integrity and authenticity, thereby providing important evidence of the history and use of the place;
The form and location of elements at Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct displays deliberate design and arrangement, reflecting the order and hierarchy of early colonial Australia's military and penal history;
The built environment at Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct displays a wide range of 19th century design, engineering, and industrial techniques in a range of media and built forms;
Because it has been protected from subsequent development in the mid to late 20th century, substantial parts of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct includes known stratified archaeological deposits of material culture, which can be analysed to yield information about the site unavailable from documentary sources alone;
Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct records, including manuscripts, maps, published material, photographs and databases provide an extensive resource for a broad range of historical and social research.

(e) Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is a complex layered cultural landscapes, where the topography, plants and built elements combine to provide a physical chronicle of an eventful and dramatic past. The physical landscape present today evokes the establishment of a British convict settlement in a remote Tasmanian marine setting.
The Darlington Historic Precinct is a relatively intact example from a set of places of convict punishment which relied on an `alien' forested and water-bounded landscape to form the bars of the prison. The views to and from the water are integral elements of both the visual and historical quality of the place.

(f) The planning and built fabric of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is important as a collection illustrating the Georgian Colonial style and the design practices of the British Royal Engineers applied to a range of projects, religious, military, domestic and civil. Despite the loss of some key buildings, Darlington expresses the character of a Probation Station, combining military, punishment, institutional, domestic, industrial and agricultural buildings. The organisation of the buildings in relation to each other exhibits vistas for surveillance, separation of classes and functional operations. 
The collection of structures from the convict period of Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is important in demonstrating the labour, skills and workmanship of convicts. Many buildings demonstrate high quality workmanship and period construction techniques, while others reveal both the lack of skills and technical mastery in an involuntary workforce.
The convict barn in the Darlington Historic Precinct is a rare and particularly fine example of such an agricultural structure from an Australian convict station.
Areas in the Darlington Historic Precinct has the ability, through research and archaeological investigation to provide extensive evidence of the convict and post convict industrial processes in extracting stone, clay and lime and in making dressed stone, bricks, mortar and cement.
Remnants of the Bernacchi Period (1884-1895) represent the flamboyant aspirations of Diego Bernacchi and his struggles with both remoteness and the depression of the 1890s. Bernacchi conceived of a grand scheme for the Island and inspired workers and investors in pursuits of silk, wine and cement manufacturing, a health resort and other associated activities.
Remnants of the Industrial Period (1921-1930) are significant for their association with the 1924 Cement Works of the National Portland Cement Company which were technologically advanced for their time.

(g) Extensive community consultation was not possible for this Nomination. Therefore the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is not nominated to the National Heritage List under this criteria at this time. 

(h) As the most tangible places of European settlement on Maria Island, the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is evocative of the interest in the place of early European explorers of this part of Australia, including du Fresne, Furneaux, Cox, Boudin and Kelly.
The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with British convicts in Australia and their administrators in the period 1825 to 1850. 
The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct, in conjunction with other Australian Convict Sites, exemplify a worldwide process of colonial settlement. The British bureaucrats, who created the colonial penal system evident in post 1788 Australia and demonstrated to a high degree at the precincts, were significant in perpetrating the eighteenth and nineteenth-century global colonisation by Europeans. 
Darlington has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with Smith O'Brien, an Irish political prisoner, who was at first accommodated on Maria Island because of the high security afforded when O'Brien refused to give an undertaking not to escape from the colony.
Governor Arthur: the Governor of Van Diemens Land at the time that Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts were established as probation station, was involved first hand in the rules and regulations which gave order to sites.
The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct, being the most formative British colonial settlements on Maria Island, have outstanding heritage value to the Nation because of the place's special association with revealing documentation of early contact between Indigenous Australia and European explorers.

(i) Because the focus of this nomination is on the Convict history of the site, the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is not nominated to the National Heritage List under this criteria at this time. However it is likely that Maria Island generally has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance as part of Indigenous tradition due to the high number of sites of Aboriginal heritage value on the Island.
Description:
The bay-side settlement consists of a variety of convict period structures and early 20th century domestic and industrial features set amongst pasture and exotic plantings, fringed by native forest and dwarfed by the Maria Range to the east. The nominated area of Darlington Precinct includes the first and second convict settlement sites and the subsequent layers of the industrial Bernacchi period. A map specifying the boundary of the nominated area can be found in attachment A. 
 
The first convict period 1825-1832
Commissariat store (1825) - The two storey brick commissariat store is the oldest remaining building on the island. Its location was determined by its proximity to the first landing point, the store jetty. The ground floor housed the provision store, spirit room and office and the upper floor contained two store rooms.
 
Penitentiary (prisoners barracks) (1830) – Built using over 200 000 bricks, the building originally consisted of six similar rooms (five dormitories and a chapel). Beams indicate the location of bunks in interior walls. Part of each dividing wall was removed in 1847 to make one large room. In the industrial era, the building was used by the cement works to house unmarried workers. The current timber veranda was constructed during the industrial period.
 
Cemetery (1825-1942) - 15 people are known to have been buried in the cemetery, located near the barn. Convicts were buried at a different, unknown site.
 
On the hillside to the west of the convict precinct, the footings of the commandant’s residence are still visible. To the south of the convict precinct the first sandstone quarrying began at Howells Point where worked blocks of sandstone can still be seen. Also remaining from this period are the duck pond, dam, mill lead and reservoir (Gilfedder:1997:p8). 
 
The second convict period (probation station) 1842-50
Most buildings are in typical Colonial Georgian style demonstrating proportion, plain brick walling with white wash, simple rectangular paned sash windows, high hipped roofs and small or no eaves. The extant buildings from this period include:
 
Senior assistant superintendent's quarters and annexe (1847) – Located on the western side of the convict precinct the building is brick on stone foundations and measures 38 feet 10 inches by 30 feet (12 metres by nine metres). The senior assistant superintendent was responsible for the convicts in solitary confinement, the mess arrangements and was in charge of discipline in the absence of the superintendent. A standard design erected at several probation stations consisting of three rooms, a kitchen, a central hallway, store and closet and a small veranda at the rear. 
 
Visiting magistrate's and superintendent's offices (c 1842-44) - Two rooms (the visiting magistrates office on the western side is larger), brick on stone foundations measuring 16.5 by 22.5 feet (15 by 6.8 metres). Originally the roof was hipped (now gabled) and the building had no veranda. The offices were maintained during the Bernacchi period and then converted for use as a shop and post office. The bars on windows are from this period. 
 
Bakehouse and clothing store (c. 1842) – A simple brick on stone foundation building measuring 52 by 23.5 feet (15.84 by 17.16 metres) and divided into two rooms, the smaller clothing store and the larger bake house.  The large flagstone flooring was procured from the quarry in the direction of Point Lesueur (most other buildings in the station had wooden floors). Still intact is the 14 by 15 feet (4.47 by 4.57 metres) oven. The building was later re-used as a bakery, blacksmith’s shop and butchery. Alterations to the building include the addition of the door connecting the rooms and the rear door in the smaller room. 
 
Cook house and bread store (c.1842) - Together with the bake-house and clothing store this building formed the eastern side of the muster ground. The plan is the mirror image of the bakehouse, the smaller room being used as a bread store, and the larger as the cook house. The cook house and oven have been demolished. The stone floor and some remains of the brick wall of the cook house can still be seen. The bread store remains but was converted into toilets in 1971. 
 
Mess hall, school room and chapel (1845) – A large single storey brick structure used by first and second class convicts as a mess room by day and following supper as school room under the religious instructor and a catholic chapel. The room could seat 400 convicts at 20 tables. Protestants and Roman Catholics were taught on alternate evenings, where the party not receiving instruction remained seated at tables reading.  On Sundays the mess room served as a chapel for the Roman Catholics. Bernacchi made a number of changes including the addition of a chimney and at least one window on the north wall. A second chimney was later added. On the west side, a loading door was built onto the roof above the new main door. In the industrial period the floor was cemented and a door and windows let into the east wall. Most of the original windows were destroyed by these alterations. 
 
Chapel/dayroom (c 1847-49) – One of four adjoined structures, each having separate pitched roofs and rear skillions. The chapel is brick on stone foundations with two windows on each of the northern and southern walls and a stone-flagged floor. Originally used by convicts to work during wet weather, it was also used as a school and a protestant chapel. During the industrial period, the building was used as a community hall, cinema and church and later as a shearing shed. The building is unchanged apart from an additional door on the eastern wall and an alteration to the original east doorway. 
 
Assistant superintendent's quarters (1849) – Second of the four adjoined structures, the building comprises three rooms and a kitchen and is brick on stone foundations. Of originally three similar cottages (one for each of the Assistant Superintendents for each class of convicts), only one remains which was later connected to the Senior Assistant Superintendent’s quarters.
 
Smith O’Brien’s quarters (1842) – The third of the adjoined structures held political prisoner, Smith O’Brien. Two ground floor rooms measure 37 by 17.5 feet (11.28 by 5.33 metres).  The building at the rear was erected in the industrial period. The front of the house is shown in a photograph of the 1890s as being the same as present except the earlier shingled roof has been replaced by one of corrugated iron. 
 
Clergyman’s quarters (1849) - A fourth structure, 33 by 17.5 feet (10.06 by 5.33 metres), was added to the south end of the existing ones. It consisted of two rooms and is brick on stone foundations. 
 
Officer's quarters (1842) - A simple two roomed brick cottage 31.5 by 17.5 feet (9.60 by 5.33 metres) on stone foundations. Seems little altered externally.
 
Convict barn (1846) - Located on the hillside north of the convict precinct the convict barn is one of the site’s largest buildings at 53 by 31 by 29 feet (16.1 by 9.45 by 8.84 metres) of brick on stone foundations. An attempt at ornamentation has been made on the end walls, where a faint triple diamond pattern in burned brick can be seen, the only demonstration of decoration on the island. The building has two main doors on the western and eastern sides which have been altered, perhaps in the industrial period, and the northern and small eastern wall doors also date from this period. There are windows in the end walls only, above which are circular windows. During the 1920s it became a machine repair and carpenter’s shop for the company’s railway system. Remnants of a steam shovel, a steam pump and other pieces of machinery are located outside the barn. 
 
Miller's quarters (1846) and mill foundations (1845) - The brick, two room cottage is located on top of the hill overlooking the convict precinct and is the only remaining convict building with the construction date inscribed upon it, ‘1846’. The cottage measures 40 feet 3 by 15 feet 2 (12.28 by 4.63 metres) and apart from some wooden lean-to additions appears to be little altered. The windmill was constructed in 1845 for grinding corn. The stones forming the circle of 66 feet in diameter are still visible, marking the sweep of the mill’s tail. 
 
Religious instructor's quarters (1843) – This building consists of four rooms, a central passage-way and an additional room at the rear, probably the kitchen/laundry. The quarters are brick on stone foundations with an elevated brick veranda approached by stone steps. Bernacchi later occupied the house and made some alterations including the addition of a room at the rear. The front steps were modified some time after 1888. 
 
Oast house / hop kilns (1844 or 1845) – Now partly in ruins, but lying as it fell, the building was 66 feet long and 15 feet high (20.12 by 4.57), brick on stone foundations with two circular drying towers 14 feet (4.27 metres) in diameter on the eastern wall. The main building would appear to have had three rooms on the ground floor and a loft for storage of grain and other government property such as charcoal, tools etc. The kiln was also used to prepare malt and perhaps some brewing. There were a number of alterations dating from the industrial period when Bernacchi is reported to have had his winery here. One wall has completely collapsed and the shingled roof has fallen inside. 
 
Bridge (1842) - With the 1830s bridge no longer in existence, the present bridge crossing Bernacchi’s creek was later built in 1842. It has been altered at various times since and it is thought only the abutments and piers are original. 
 
Ruins/foundations
Separate apartments (c 1842) - Designed for chain-gang and crime class, 102 separate apartments stood nine feet long, about four feet wide and nine feet high (2.7 by 1.22 by 2.7 metres). A second storey was built in 1846, with new cells reached via a wooden veranda. The building was demolished by Bernacchi to make room for his ‘coffee palace’ which now occupies the site. The lower sections of the north, east and west walls remain and former cell divisions are clearly visible. Most of the foundations of the cells appear to remain just under the surface of the ground. Cell foundations are also intact under the floor of the ‘coffee palace’. The bricks from the demolished building were used to erect other buildings and for paving roads in the area. 
 
Superintendent’s quarters (1842) – Formerly standing west of the convict precinct, the foundations remain indicating the size and layout of the building. 
 
Hospital (1843) - Foundations of the front wall of the southern wing and part of the central section were uncovered in 1972. Excavation may reveal the whole outline of the building. Part of the wall which surrounded the hospital yard still stands beside the religious instructor’s house.
 
Solitary cells (1846) - Originally 23 punishment cells stood in a row behind the bakehouse (1842). These were replaced by two blocks of eight double-brick cells which opened alternately at the front and back so men could exercise separately. Foundations were uncovered in 1972, the walls then found to be one foot seven inches thick ( 52 cm or two bricks) instead of normal one foot 2.5 inches (38 cm or 1.5 bricks), perhaps for extra soundproofing. The cells measured four feet 10 inches by eight feet six inches and were probably nine feet high (1.48 by 2.58 by 2.74 metres). Only the foundations remain. 
 
Muster ground and walkways - A quadrangle 420 by 128 (128 by 32 metres) is enclosed by the officers’ quarters, cooking and bake house and yards containing the dormitories and separate cells. The buildings on the north and south side of the muster ground were linked by paved walkways. The brick parapet-wall which bordered the muster ground site is still standing for much of its length. The lines of both north and south walkways are clearly visible. 
 
Main structures remaining from the industrial periods
Some of the structures from the convict periods were re-used during subsequent industrial periods. Additional structures built include:
 
The coffee palace (1888) - Built over footings of the separate apartments which were demolished in 1886, the coffee palace consists of two dining rooms and a lounge room at the front and seven small rooms and a kitchen at the back. The building was used as a guesthouse during the industrial period and more recently the front three rooms were restored and opened to the public (Ludeke:2003:85).
 
The workman’s cottage (1889) - Built as part of the cement works, the cottage would have been home to a worker and possibly his family. The building is still in good condition and has been re-roofed. 
 
Engineer’s house (1889) - Built to house the cement works manager, then reoccupied by the engineer, the house is now a ruin.
 
Bernacchi's cement works structure (1889) - A building east of the convict precinct on the Mount Bishop and Clerk Walk is all that remains of the cement works built by Bernacchi. The brick building consisted of two vaulted chambers in the east abutted by tailings from the quarry and a two story section in the west. The cement works were subsequently modified for use as stables. Immediately behind the cement works in the hills are both brick and lime kilns, some built by Bernacchi and some built in convict times (Ludeke:2003:p79). At the top of the kilns is a quarry used as part of the cement works.
 
Terraces (1888) – A row of terraces accommodated workmen employed in the first development of the cement works. Constructed of bricks from the demolished separate apartments, the terraces have recently been restored. 
 
School master’s house (1922).In the cement period of the 1920s a school was needed due to the large number of families on the island. The house was erected to accommodate the school master and is located behind the creek. 

Analysis:
Each claim by the nominator is addressed, and additional values are considered where appropriate in the discussion. 
 
Boundary consideration
The boundary has been reduced to Darlington Precinct area only, Point Lesueur has been excluded from the boundary. 
 
(a) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in the course, or pattern, of Australia's natural or cultural history;
 
Nominators claims
Being on an island relatively isolated from Hobart, Darlington generally has been sheltered from persistent progressive erosion by many small phases of development evident in many other coastal places in Tasmania and Australia. The major layers of Darlington’s development are easily interpreted with the following historical patterns evident:
 
1.     a place strongly connected with early European exploration of eastern Australia
2.     a place with documented history and evidence of the early Australian whaling stations in remote locations.
3.     a place of secondary punishment for Australia’s convicts – typical isolated from the main settlement in a marine environment and suitable for putting convicts to hard labour in resource exploitation, agriculture (possibly including Tasmania’s first hop cultivation), and in light industrial work.
4.     a Convict Probation Station - adapting infrastructure from a previous convict period and again exploiting the security afforded by an island – where convicts from all backgrounds (not only repeat offenders and including political prisoners) were placed in a system of gradual redemption mostly through labour.
5.     a place where convict infrastructure was adapted for a new industrial venture – yet amazingly retaining some of the heritage significance of the layout and structures of the convict period but exploiting further resources identified in the convict period and adding new significant structures related to industrial uses and a company town.
6.     a place where its isolated island status has led to it being ignored for development in the mid to late 20th centuries allowing it to be conserved for natural, recreational and historic values 
 
It is considered that Darlington Precinct is important to the nation for reasons beyond the nominator’s claims. From the information available, Darlington Precinct is considered to posses the most intact and representative example of a probation stations in Australia – claim number 4. 
 
Darlington Precinct is of outstanding importance for its strong association with the history of convict transportation in Australia, particularly with the elaborate probation system which is unique to Tasmania. While the probation system operated in Norfolk Island, it did not establish any probation stations. The assignment of convicts to colonists or government public works was the way authorities employed the majority of convicts since the first settlements. The probation system was established following a British parliamentary committee which severely criticised the assignment system of convict discipline finding it akin to slavery and not consistently providing for the controlled punishment and reform of convicts (Brand:1990:1). Governor John Franklin was instructed to consider a replacement for assignment, whereby he proposed a system of probationary gangs (Shaw:1977:p275). This idea was approved in London and implemented in early 1839 (Brand:1990:p1). When transportation to New South Wales ceased in 1840, increased numbers were sent to Van Diemen’s Land and at least 78 probation stations were established between 1841 and 1853, when transportation to Van Diemen’s Land ceased. In 1841 Matthew Forster, the newly appointed Director of the Probation System, drew up a set of rules and regulations for the construction and management of the new probation stations (Brand:1990:p15). The regulations hinged upon the separation of convicts into three distinct classes and stipulated that the physical layout of the stations had to enforce the principal aim of classification. Probation stations often employed architecture and topography to create a physical landscape that embodied 19th century reform principles and the extensive buildings remaining demonstrate this in a way no other probation station can.  This is demonstrated at Darlington through the first class yard’s location at the top of the slope and third class at the bottom. Also the chapel and superintendent’s quarters flank the entrance to remind prisoners that adherence to regulation and religious instruction were the key to reform. The design of probation stations for males in the first half of the 1840s was intended to be uniform and in accord with a prescribed system of discipline. However, Darlington, as argued by historian James Semple Kerr, was the only probation station of the first generation of stations to implement Franklin’s ‘fixed plan’ to accommodate the third class in separate apartments (Kerr:1984:p137) and was therefore one of the few stations to actually adhere to the principals. Under the probation system, convicts sentenced to more than seven years would be transported to Van Diemen’s Land and would undergo three stages of probation: at least two years at a probation station away from free settlers including a systematic course of moral and religious instruction; two to four years on public works receiving wages and allowances; then two to four years working as a free person but required to report to stations and work in government services between employment (Brand:1990:p16). A ticket of leave, conditional or absolute pardon could follow (Shaw:1977:p276,280). Each convict, regardless of sentence, had to go through each stage and could be reverted back a stage for bad behaviour. The probation system was the last major phase of convict management in eastern Australia and formed a significant part of the development of Australia’s convict history.
 
There is no available documentation that lists how many probation stations remain in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Heritage Register includes 14 probation stations (including Maria Island convict site).  In 1994 the Tasmanian Archaeological Society conducted a survey of the extant condition of 14 probation stations (four of which are also on the Tasmanian Heritage Register). Therefore, at least 24 probation stations remain in various states of integrity. Of the 14 probation stations on the Tasmanian Heritage Register: five (Jericho, Old Wharf, Long Marsh, Rocky Hills and Seven Mile Creek) state they consist of ruins or sub-surface materials only. Four (Impression Bay, Fingal, Browns River and Broadmarsh) possess three or less remaining structures. Saltwater River Probation Station is now divided into several private land parcels. It is believed six buildings remain from the probation station period; prisoner barracks which have been converted into a house, a barn and four other residences. Paradise Probation Station is listed as a relatively intact archaeological site although no buildings survive to their original height. The Coal Mines Historic site has numerous intact structures, although, many buildings were established prior to the probation system. The solitary cells were built during the probation period and are more intact that those at Darlington (Coal Mines RNE). Cascades Probation Station, Koonya comprises numerous extant buildings, including officer’s quarters, mess hall and hospital.  The site also contains standing ruins, including the cell block. Substantial conservation and structural works have been undertaken to render the buildings fit for use (Cascades conservation project 2001:p8). The hospital is the family home of the owners, the officers’ quarters and overseer’s quarters are used for tourist accommodation and the mess hall for public functions.  The change in use and the significant work undertaken at Cascades Probation Station has resulted in the structures having much less integrity and authenticity than those at Darlington. Of the 14 studied by the Tasmanian Archaeological Society (which did not include Darlington), Paradise Probation Station was the only site to possess numerous remaining structures. On the available information, Darlington is considered to be the most intact and contain the most number of extant structures, enabling it to best represent and demonstrate the characteristic of a probation station.
 
The prisoners barracks date from the first penal establishment (1825-32) and demonstrate the long history of the site. However other convict sites, including Port Arthur and Norfolk Island were larger and operated for longer. It is not considered the prisoners barrack’s demonstrate outstanding value on their own. 
 
The nominators claim number 1 does not demonstrate outstanding value to the nation. During his exploratory trip of 1642, Abel Tasman named ‘Maria’s Eylandt’ in honour of the wife of Anthony Van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company (Ludeke:2001:p8).  The island was subsequently visited by explorers including du Fresne in 1771, Furneaux in 1773, Cox in 1789, Baudin in 1802 and Kelly in 1816 (Pretyman:1970:p5). It is Maria Island, not Darlington specifically, that has an association with the explorers, and this connection is no more significant than those between explorers and any other parts of Australia. Darlington was not named until 1825, well after many other areas of Maria Island including Oyster Bay (1789) and Cape Peron (1802) (Ludeke:2001:p9).  Darlington is not listed as a place with potential national heritage values in Pearson’s 2004 thematic study ‘A great southern land, the maritime investigations of terra australis’.
 
The nominators claim number 2 does not demonstrate outstanding value to the nation. A sealing vessel is documented as bound for Maria Island in 1802 and an early whaling station existed at Whalers Cove on the south of North Maria (Weidenhofer:1991:17). Evidence of whaling parties at Darlington was mentioned by the Commandant of the penal establishment in 1825, however the location of the whalers’ camp has not been determined (Nash:1991:51). A whaling station was established at Darlington in 1833 at the former convict establishment. With the re-establishment of the penal establishment in late 1842 all whaling parties were forced to leave the island. There may be some remaining evidence of whaling but this is not well documented. The first shore based whaling station in Australia was in operation in Derwent, Tasmania in 1805, although whaling had occurred since 1788. Shore-based whaling was well established by the end of the 1820s (Lawrence & Staniforth:1998:p7) and there were several stations established in Tasmania before Darlington including Coles Bay (1824), Henry Bay (1824) and Whalers Cove (1820s) (Nash:1991:p2). ‘The Bay Whalers, Tasmania’s shore-based whaling industry’ states that there is no remaining evidence of whaling operations at Darlington (Nash:2003:151). 
 
The nominators claim number 3 does not demonstrate outstanding value to the nation. Darlington’ Precinct’s first convict phase, (1825-32) was as a place of secondary punishment. The settlement held no more than 145 convicts at any time. Two of the primary characteristics of places of secondary punishment are; location at sufficient distances from population centres so as to dispel hope of successful return by escape; and the harshness of life and punishment in them compared with ‘regular’ convict life. Convicts sent to Darlington during its first phase were secondary offenders, but whose crimes were not of ‘so flagrant a nature’ that they should be banished to Macquarie Harbour (Knaggs:2006:p3). Two structures remain from the first convict period, the Commissariat store and penitentiary (prisoners barracks). Six sites of secondary punishment from around the same period as Darlington include; Newcastle (1801), Port Macquarie (1821-31), Sarah Island Macquarie Harbour (1822-33), Moreton Bay (1825-42), Norfolk Island (1825-55) and Port Arthur (1832-77).  No buildings remain from Newcastle or Sarah Island’s secondary punishment phase, however three buildings survive from Port Macquarie and  two from Moreton Bay. A considerable number of buildings of various types, landscape features and archaeological remains survive from the secondary punishment phase of Norfolk Island’s settlement, primarily at Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area (KAHVA).  Port Arthur is also a stand out example of a place of secondary punishment, as identified in the National Heritage List values that lead to its listing (NHL Database Record Port Arthur Historic Site #105718).  It has numerous buildings demonstrating the primary characteristics of a place of secondary punishment. Based on the available evidence, Darlington is not of outstanding importance in the course of Australia’s cultural history as a place of secondary punishment. 
 
Part of the nominators argument to support claim number 3 is that Darlington was possibly the site of Tasmania’s first hop cultivation. Australian hops were first cultivated in New South Wales in 1803. A number of private growers, including James Squires, also cultivated hops in the early 1800s, prior to the first brewery opening in Parramatta in 1804. In Tasmania, there were four breweries in or near Hobart and one in the country by 1824. William Shoobridge is generally acknowledged as the father of the hop industry in Tasmania. Shoobridge’s hop plants near Hobart started bearing in 1824 and the first marketable crop was produced in 1825 (Evans:1993:16). According to Pearce, hops were first grown on Maria Island in 1827 (Pearce: 1976:p31), after other cultivations in Tasmania, and on mainland Australia. Based on the available evidence, Darlington was not the site of the first hop cultivation in Tasmania, and is not of outstanding value to the nation for this reason. 
 
The nominators claim number 4 is addressed in paragraph one. 
 
The nominators claim number 5 does not demonstrate outstanding value to the nation. Darlington Precinct does demonstrate evidence of industrial and commercial evolution over time through the industrial work undertaken by convicts and the subsequent industrial activities undertaken by Bernacchi. This may be significant in the Tasmanian context, but not nationally. Numerous sites in Australia demonstrate convict infrastructure adapted for a new industrial venture including Cockatoo Island (use as a dockyard) and the Coal Mines in Port Arthur. The fabric relating to the buildings and modifications at Darlington Precinct dating from the industrial period is not demonstrated to be more significant than similar architecture in other Australian sites. 
 
The nominators point 6 claim does not demonstrate outstanding value to the nation. The isolation of the island has contributed to the intactness and preservation of the buildings and the landscape. Lack of development of the place does not in itself represent outstanding significance. Fauna reserves were formed on Maria Island in the early 1960s and the Island was officially declared a National Park in 1971. It is mainly for this reason the Island was not developed in the mid to late twentieth century. 
 
Darlington Precinct has outstanding heritage value to the nation against Criterion (a). 
 
(b) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia's natural or cultural history;
 
Nominators claim
* The Darlington Probation Station on Maria Island is considered to be Australia’s most intact example of a convict Probation Station on reserved land. The Probation System was used only in Van Diemen's Land and at Norfolk Island and was a uniquely Australian approach to convict management, providing punishment to ensure that transportation remained a deterrent, but also opportunities for reform and betterment.  The system is important in the context of both Australian and World penal history. 
Response
From the available information, Darlington Precinct possesses Australia’s most intact example of a convict probation station and is therefore a rare and significant aspect of Australia’s cultural history. Of the 14 probation stations in the Tasmanian Heritage Register and the additional 10 in an archaeological survey by the Tasmanian Archaeological Society, Darlington is considered to contain the most intact example. Darlington Precinct also contains the most outstanding number of extant buildings (13), combining military, punishment, institutional, domestic, industrial and agricultural uses within a natural environment setting that has few competing elements. Other relatively intact remaining probation stations include Cascades, Coal Mines, Fingal and Seven Mile Creek.
 
* Darlington contains rare evidence of many industrial and agricultural processes from the convict periods of settlement.
Response
There is no evidence to demonstrate that Darlington Precinct contains rare evidence of industrial and agricultural activities during the convict period.  While timber-getting, road making and agricultural activities were the main functions of the early probation stations, there is no information available to demonstrate that Darlington is exceptional for these activities. Saltwater and Wedge Bay were also agricultural probation stations (Shaw:1977:278). Other convict sites such as Port Arthur, the Coal Mines Historic Area, Norfolk Island and the Great North Road are of greater significance at the national level for convict industrial and agricultural activities. 
 
* The planning, structures and archaeology from the Bernacchi Periods of development at the Darlington Precinct (1884-1896 & 1920-1930) contains rare evidence of late 19th and early 20th century attempts at planned industrial settlements in Australia. In Tasmania the first Bernacchi industrial settlement (the Maria Island Company was floated in 1887) precedes other iconic and ultimately more successful industrial settlements - the Mt Lyell mine on the West Coast (est. 1892) and Hobart’s E.Z. Risdon enterprise (est.1916).
Response
There are other industrial companies which floated prior to the Maria Island Company, had greater impact on the economy and industrial development in Australia, and lasted longer. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company (BHP) in New South Wales was established in 1855 and became one of Australia’s biggest companies playing an important role in shaping Australia’s mining and industrial policy.  The Tasmanian Charcoal Iron Company, floated in Melbourne in 1872 represents an early attempt to establish new industries in Tasmania.  Although the operations had closed down by the end of 1877, the quarry site is believed to be in good condition with the overall structure of the site intact (AHD #103329). Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company floated in Rockhampton in 1886. The success of the company precipitated the distinguished late 19th century commercial buildings present today and the company building represents a local landmark. The establishment of the first industrial settlement in New South Wales outside Sydney, and one of the earliest in Australia was in Lithgow.  The coal mining industry was established soon after crossing of the Blue Mountains in the early 19th century. The introduction of the railway line in 1869 to Lithgow saw a number of major industries grow including steel making, copper smelting, brick works and the chilling of meat. 
 
* In particular the relatively intact c. 1886 Bernacchi’s Terraces and 1888 Coffee Palace at Darlington demonstrate how late 19th century Australian industrial entrepreneurs set up landscaped ‘company’ towns complete with residential, educational, recreational and external tourism facilities, in the manner of the model British industrial town precedents.
Response
The Bernacchi industrial settlement, although it may precede other privately funded settlements, does not demonstrate rareness. It is not possible to make a judgement on the statement that Darlington Precinct is likely to be one of the first landscaped industrial villages in Australia without a comparative analysis. The Bernacchi buildings are of local distinction, but are neither grand examples nor typical ones (Forward:1984:103).
 
Darlington Precinct has outstanding heritage value to the nation against Criterion (b). 
 
(c) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia's natural or cultural history;
 
Nominators claim:
* Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is evocative cultural landscapes which provide a window into the Nation’s convict history. 
* The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct contain largely unexplored archaeological evidence which because of its integrity and authenticity provides a unique insight into the convict experience. 
* In combination, the oral tradition, documentary evidence, structures, engineering relics, archaeological features and landscape at the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has outstanding potential for community education.
* The structures, movable heritage items and the archaeology of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct contain evidence of Australian convict period technology, using available materials and adapted to suit local conditions.
* Archival records and collections in the ownership of State Government provide a substantial research resource which, in conjunction with documentary evidence, have the potential to reveal and present much of the Darlington and Point Lesueur historic Precinct story. 
* The subsurface and maritime archaeological deposits of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is a largely yet to explored finite resource of national, possibly international, research significance.  * Investigation and analysis of these deposits has the potential to provide a unique insight into convictism, from the material culture perspective.
 
Response
There is no material available to base a comparison of the claims of unique unexplored archaeological evidence. Of at least 78 probation stations established in Tasmania, numerous sites have significant unexplored archaeological evidence including Old Wharf Probation Station in Hobart and Saltwater River Probation Station (Tasmanian Heritage Register). The structures, movable heritage items and archaeology may well contain evidence of Australian convict technology, however, it is not substantiated if or how this is of national significance. There is extensive archaeological and research material for other convict sites including Hyde Park Barracks and Port Arthur (NHL Online). It is difficult to confirm the significance of the potential of Darlington to yield information as specific evidence is not stated. 
 
It is possible to reconstruct the convict population at Darlington using surviving musters and correspondence. However, this also applies to many other convict sites. The convict registers for Port Arthur, Hyde Park Barracks and Cascades Female Factory are very extensive. It is unlikely Darlington Precinct demonstrates outstanding national value in this regard. Archival records demonstrate known information and is not significant as potential to ‘yield’ information. 
 
The potential of the precinct to provide information of community education is beyond the scope of this criterion. 
 
Darlington Precinct does not have outstanding value to the nation against Criterion (c).
 
(d) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of:
(i) a class of Australia's natural or cultural places;
 
Nominators claim
Australia’s convict sites share patterns of environmental and social colonial history including classification and segregation; dominance by authority and religion; the provision of accommodation for the convict, military and civil population; amenities for governance, punishment and healing; and the elements of place building, agriculture and industry. The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts are outstanding in demonstrating the principal characteristics of an Australian Convict Site because:
* The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct present important aspects of Australia’s convict system including changing attitudes to punishment, reform, education and welfare;
* The physical landscape and setting at the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct retain a high degree of integrity and authenticity, thereby providing important evidence of the history and use of the place;
* The form and location of elements at Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct displays deliberate design and arrangement, reflecting the order and hierarchy of early colonial Australia’s military and penal history;
* The built environment at Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct displays a wide range of 19th century design, engineering, and industrial techniques in a range of media and built forms;
* Because it has been protected from subsequent development in the mid to late 20th century, substantial parts of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct includes known stratified archaeological deposits of material culture, which can be analysed to yield information about the site unavailable from documentary sources alone;
* Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct records, including manuscripts, maps, published material, photographs and databases provide an extensive resource for a broad range of historical and social research
 
Response
The probation system was the last major phase of convict management in early Australia and the only major implemented alternative to the assignment system (Brand:1990 p1,2). It was an important phase of penal philosophy representing changing ideas in convict management following widespread dissatisfaction with the assignment system (Hughes: p522-525). It was the most developed expression of the idea that expiation of crime and the moral redemption of the criminal class could be engineered through systems of controlled labour, and represents the most systematic expression of this common theme in the history of convict transportation, and demonstrated the development of penal philosophy in Britain. 
 
The principal features of a probation station include gang labour, classification, segregation, religious instruction, stages of punishment from hard labour and isolation to light task work and relative freedom and the provision of work for convicts away from settled areas (Brand:1990:51). Gangs, of men were divided into classes from best behaved to chain gang and crime class. The classes were separated for labour and had separate sleeping quarters. All convicts participated in prayers twice daily and divine service twice on Sundays.  Convicts were treated according to class, the first class sleeping in out-huts, eating in the mess hall with knives and forks, the middle class slept in large wards and ate in open yards with no tables or seats and only plates and cups, while the lower class slept in separate wards (some on account of ‘unnatural propensities’) where they also ate their meals. The first and second class were generally employed on task work and usually finished by 2pm. All convicts, except for those deemed sufficiently educated attended school from 6-8pm on weekdays. Darlington Probation Station was praised by Governor Latrobe for the manner in which it conformed to the classification ideals of the probation system (Maxwell-Stewart:2006: p47-48). 
 
Darlington Precinct contains Australia’s most outstanding example of a probation station demonstrating its principal features through the relationship of the numerous intact buildings and their setting in a landscape with a high degree of integrity. The site demonstrates representative design features through its buildings, function and philosophy. The isolated island location reflects the separation of convict and non-convict inhabitants. The classification of convicts according to the stage of sentence they had reached is reflected in the remaining structures and ruins and their relationship with each other. The prisoners barracks and separate cells demonstrates the segregation of classes in sleeping arrangements, and the use of solitary confinement for punishment. The religions instructors quarters, Roman Catholic clergyman’s quarters and chapel reflects the focus on religious instruction and moral teachings. The standing ruins identify the style of brick work and masonry construction as well as the layout and dimensions of individual buildings.  The convict barn and oast house represent the task work undertaken by the convicts and the development of industries to occupy their labour.  The landscape surrounding the structures also remains mostly intact, enabling the buildings to portray the principal features in a setting reminiscent of the time. 
 
Darlington Precinct has outstanding heritage value to the nation against Criterion (d). 
 
(e) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural group;
 
Nominators claim
* Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is a complex layered cultural landscapes, where the topography, plants and built elements combine to provide a physical chronicle of an eventful and dramatic past. The physical landscape present today evokes the establishment of a British convict settlement in a remote Tasmanian marine setting.
* The Darlington Precinct is a relatively intact example from a set of places of convict punishment which relied on an ‘alien’ forested and water-bounded landscape to form the bars of the prison.  The views to and from the water are integral elements of both the visual and historical quality of the place.
 
Response
Darlington Precinct contains a harmonious combination of natural and cultural features. Intact structures, ruins and the natural landscape contribute to a high degree of aesthetic appeal. The particular aesthetic characteristics are whitewashed Colonial Georgian buildings set in a natural landscape of rolling hills and bounded by the views of water. While individually, the buildings are representative of their type and function, together the group is highly evocative in conveying the concepts of the probation system’s design, arrangement and form. Unlike many other probation stations, Darlington’s cultural landscape features are not impacted on by significant loss or deterioration of structures or by development within the landscape. However, there is no evidence that these aesthetic characteristics are more outstanding than other Colonial Georgian buildings, nor valued by a community or cultural group for their aesthetic characteristics. 
 
‘Friends of Maria Island’ is a group of volunteers who assist rangers with management activities including building restoration and maintenance, track construction and maintenance and habitat restoration. The group does value the aesthetic characteristics, but of Maria Island, not Darlington specifically. This association is not more significant than the numerous other ‘friends’ group including Friends of Cockatoo Island, Luna Park and the Rocks. 
 
Darlington Precinct does not have outstanding value to the nation against Criterion (e).
 
(f) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period;
 
Nominators claim
* The planning and built fabric of the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is important as a collection illustrating the Georgian Colonial style and the design practices of the British Royal Engineers applied to a range of projects, religious, military, domestic and civil. Despite the loss of some key buildings, Darlington expresses the character of a Probation Station, combining military, punishment, institutional, domestic, industrial and agricultural buildings.  The organisation of the buildings in relation to each other exhibits vistas for surveillance, separation of classes and functional operations. 
* The collection of structures from the convict period of Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is important in demonstrating the labour, skills and workmanship of convicts.  Many buildings demonstrate high quality workmanship and period construction techniques, while others reveal both the lack of skills and technical mastery in an involuntary workforce.
* The convict barn in the Darlington Precinct is a rare and particularly fine example of such an agricultural structure from an Australian convict station.
* Areas in the Darlington Precinct has the ability, through research and archaeological investigation to provide extensive evidence of the convict and post convict industrial processes in extracting stone, clay and lime and in making dressed stone, bricks, mortar and cement.
* Remnants of the Bernacchi Period (1884-1895) represent the flamboyant aspirations of Diego Bernacchi and his struggles with both remoteness and the depression of the 1890s. Bernacchi conceived of a grand scheme for the Island and inspired workers and investors in pursuits of silk, wine and cement manufacturing, a health resort and other associated activities (RNE Listing 101296).
* Remnants of the Industrial Period (1921-1930) are significant for their association with the 1924 Cement Works of the National Portland Cement Company which were technologically advanced for their time[1].
 
Response
The design of probation stations for males in the first half of the 1840’s was intended to be uniform and in accord with a prescribed system of discipline (Kerr:1984:144). Darlington Probation Station was planned by Kelsall in 1842 around the original convict barracks and was one of the first stations to be equipped with separate apartments (Kerr:1984:148). The arrangement of a two storey single row of apartments with access from a veranda was repeated at a number of stations (Kerr:1984:150). The system of racking the convicts in tiers of wall cages for ‘pigeon holes’ was also used in other sites, including Hobart Prisoner’s Barracks (Kerr:1984:151). The design and building of the convict structures at Darlington Probation Station, although atypical in some ways, do not demonstrate a high degree of creative or technical achievement of the time. Most of the buildings at the station are typical of the Colonial Georgian style featuring proportion, symmetry, high hipped roofs and small or no eaves. 
 
There is no known thematic study of barns and no comparative material on which to base the claim that it is rare and a fine example of its type. There are however many other convict built barns in Australia, including Pitt Town, New South Wales. Bernacchi’s agricultural enterprises are of significance as they are indicative of the experimental nature of the developing agricultural practice, however they are not representative of the birthplace of an industry (Forward:1984:103). The cement works may be technologically advanced for their time, but there is no specific evidence of how it was advanced in order to substantiate the claim. 
 
Darlington Precinct does not have outstanding value to the nation against Criterion (f).
 
(g) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons;
 
Extensive community consultation was not possible for this Nomination. Therefore the site is not nominated to the National Heritage List under this criteria at this time. 
 
Darlington Precinct does not have outstanding value to the nation against Criterion (g).
 
(h) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with the life or works of a person, or group of persons, of importance in Australia's natural or cultural history;
 
Nominators claim
* As the most tangible places of European settlement on Maria Island, the Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct is evocative of the interest in the place of early European explorers of this part of Australia, including du Fresne, Furneaux, Cox, Baudin (sic) and Kelly.
* The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct has heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with British convicts in Australia and their administrators in the period 1825 to 1850. 
* The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct, in conjunction with other Australian Convict Sites, exemplify a worldwide process of colonial settlement. The British bureaucrats, who created the colonial penal system evident in post 1788 Australia and demonstrated to a high degree at the precincts, were significant in perpetrating the eighteenth and nineteenth-century global colonisation by Europeans. 
* Governor Arthur: the Governor of Van Diemen's Land at the time that Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts were established as probation station, was involved first hand in the rules and regulations which gave order to sites.
* Darlington has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's special association with Smith O’Brien, an Irish political prisoner, who was at first accommodated on Maria Island because of the high security afforded when O’Brien refused to give an undertaking not to escape from the colony.
* The Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precinct, being the most formative British colonial settlements on Maria Island, have outstanding heritage value to the Nation because of the place's special association with revealing documentation of early contact between Indigenous Australia and European explorers.
 
Response
The early European explorers listed in the nomination explored other parts of Tasmania, Australia and other countries. There is no evidence to suggest that their association with Darlington Precinct is more important or significant. Darlington was not identified as having potential national significance in the thematic study ’A Great Southern Land the maritime investigations of terra australis’ (Pearson:2004). 
 
The association between Darlington Probation Station, British convicts and their administrators and British administrators is not demonstrated to be more significant than that of any other convict settlement at that period.
 
Smith O’Brien spent less than a year at Darlington Probation Station. Port Arthur’s association with Smith O’Brien is as significant as Darlington as he spent a similar amount of time there, and was housed in similar accommodation following his incarceration at Darlington. 
 
Darlington Precinct is significant for its association with Governor Sir John Franklin.  Franklin was Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania from 1837-1843 at a critical time in Australia's convict history following the departure of Colonel Arthur and the Molesworth Inquiry into transportation (ADB Online). Governor Franklin was responsible for implementing the probation system to replace the assignment system (Brand:1990).  The probation system was a major feature of the greater convict system in Australia and Darlington Precinct is the most representative and intact example of this system.  While Lieutenant Governor Arthur is significant as Australia's longest serving colonial Governor and through his important role in the development of the initial penal colony of Van Diemen's Land, he is not closely associated with either Darlington Precinct or the probation system. 
 
Darlington Precinct has outstanding heritage value to the nation against Criterion (h). 
 
(i) the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance as part of Indigenous tradition.
 
Because the focus of this nomination is on the Convict history of the site, the Darlington Probation Station is not nominated to the National Heritage List under this criteria at this time. However it is likely that Maria Island generally has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's importance as part of Indigenous tradition due to the high number of sites of Aboriginal heritage value on the Island. Of all the primary convict sites in Australia, Maria Island and Sarah Island provide some contribution to Aboriginal cultural heritage at a National level. 
 
A substantial number of sites of Aboriginal heritage value have been recorded on the islands around Tasmania, and there are records of early conflicts/contact between colonists and Aboriginal people.  These values may well be of significance to Aboriginal people today, however there is no evidence of any continuing body of Aboriginal traditions, observances, customs and beliefs applying to the islands.  Therefore, there is no evidence that Maria Island or Sarah Island is of outstanding significance to the nation as part of Indigenous tradition. 
 
Darlington Precinct does not have outstanding value to the nation against Criterion (i).

 
History:
Exploration & Whaling
During his exploratory trip of 1642, Abel Tasman named ‘Maria’s Eylandt’ in honour of the wife of Anthony Van Diemen, the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company. Subsequently, the island was visited by a number of explorers including du Fresne in 1771, Furneaux in 1773, Cox in 1789, Baudin in 1802 and Kelly in 1816 (Pretyman:1970:p1). 
 
Commercial prospects for harvesting the seal skins and whale oil lured other parties to visit the locality, resulting in clashes with the indigenous inhabitants. Whalers were sighted at Maria Island since the early 19th century and there is evidence that whaling parties had been using Maria Island as early as 1825 but the location of the camp has not been determined (Nash:2003:p51). In 1833 a whaling station was established in the former convict settlement. 
 
The first convict period 1825-30
Lieutenant Governor Arthur established a penal settlement at Darlington, Maria Island in 1825 for convicts who committed offences in the colony, but whose crimes were not of ‘so flagrant a nature’ that they should be banished to Macquarie Harbour (P&WS:1999). Many of the prisoners sent there were absconders (Maxwell-Stewart:2006:p47). Darlington was chosen due to its combination of a good anchorage, accessible shore, fresh water and shelter. Prisoners and officials were at first housed in log and bark huts or tents. However, within a year of arrival, permanent buildings were erected using bricks made on the island and sandstone quarried from the sea cliffs.  A large number of convicts who had experience in the British textile industry were working on road parties and chain gangs. In recognition of this, a textile factory was set up at Darlington complete with reservoir, weaving, spinning , milling, finishing and dyeing shops (Maxwell-Stewart:2006:p47). Industries such as cloth, blanket and shoe-making, tanning, timber cutting, and pottery were also fostered. Brick-making activities and lime making commenced by 1831. Convict numbers were not large, and probably never greatly exceeded the 1828 figure of 145 prisoners (Godden MacKay CMP:1991:p13). 
 
Darlington became notorious for convicts escaping by rafts or bark canoes. A number perished or gave themselves up, while a few (including George Lacey - a survivor of Brady’s bush-ranging gang) ended life on the gallows. The frequent escape attempts, allegations of laxity of discipline and difficulties of supply led to abandonment of the settlement and its convict population were moved to Port Arthur in 1832 (Knaggs:2006:p3). 
 
The land with the vacated buildings was used for pastoral leases. By 1841 some buildings had gone and most were in poor repair (Godden Mackay CMP:1991:p13).
 
Governor Sir John Franklin and the probation system
In January 1837, accompanied by his wife, Lady Franklin and Captain Alexander Maconochie, Sir John Franklin arrived in Hobart Town as successor to Governor Arthur. Soon after his arrival a British parliamentary committee began its investigations into convict transportation. Assignment of convicts to free settlers or government public works had been the way in which the authorities employed the majority of convicts since the first settlements (ADB Online). The assignment system was severely criticised, likened to slavery and did not consistently provide for the controlled punishment and reform of convicts. The assignment system was phased out between 1838 and 1843. Governor Franklin proposed a replacement system of convict management involving stages of probation. If the sentence of imprisonment was for a term of less than seven years, the convict remained in a penitentiary in England. If the sentence was for more than seven years, transportation to Van Diemen’s Land was the result and the convicted person was required to go through stages of probation; the first stage involved at least two years at a probation station (undergone not in the colony but away from free settlers) and a systematic course of moral and religious instruction; the second stage involved two-four years on public works receiving wages and allowances. The third stage involved two-four years working as a free person but reporting regularly to certain stations plus working in government services between employment. Following the three stages of probation the convict could receive a ticket of leave, a ‘probationary and revocable pardon’ only valid in the colony in which it was granted (Brand:1990:20). Finally, the convict could receive a conditional or absolute pardon. Each convict had to go through each stage and could be reverted back a stage for bad behaviour (Pretyman:1970:17). The probation system was implemented in 1839 as an experiment but continued as a major phase of convict management until after transportation to Van Diemen’s Land ceased in 1853. It was a uniquely Australian approach to convict management, intended to provide punishment to ensure that transportation remained a deterrent, but also to provide opportunities for reform and betterment. Probation stations existed only in Van Diemen’s Land, although Norfolk island also participated in the probation system. 
 
The second convict era 1842 – 1850
With the rise in convict numbers in Van Diemen’s Land following transport to New South Wales being discontinued in 1840 and the introduction of the probation system, the convict station at Darlington was reopened in 1842. The probation station was planned around the original Maria Island Convict Barracks (Kerr:1984:147). Some buildings from the original convict period were re-used for the purposes of the probation station and a major building program was initiated. Most of the convict structures on the island date from this period (Knaggs:2006:p5). The old penal station barracks was converted into accommodation for first and second class prisoners. This was separated from the rest of the probation station by a stockade. On either side of the entrance that led out onto the muster yard was a bookstore and a library that sought to instil convicts with the values of self-improvement. A new range of buildings were erected to accommodate the third class prisoners involving a double series of separate apartments which surrounded the third class yard. The muster yard was enclosed on the south by a cook house and bake house and various stores. A range of solitary cells was located at the rear of these.  The entrance to the muster yard was bounded on one side by the offices of the superintendent and the visiting magistrate and on the other by the chapel – a visual reminder that the way out lay in attending to religion and the rules and regulations of those in charge (Kerr:1984:147-51). As a probation station it was atypical in that it was generally well managed, it had an uninterrupted life of eight years, and was one of the first stations to be equipped with separate apartments (Kerr:1984:p147).
 
Darlington operated as a probation station for eight (1842-50) of the 13 years (1840-53) the system was in existence. It was one of the first of a group to be established, along with Salt Water Creek, Wedge Bay, Impression Bay and Cascades (Brand:1990:p17).  With over 400 acres worked for crops, agriculture was the primary activity of convicts, cultivating wheat, flax, hops and vegetables although lime was also quarried and burnt on an industrial scale (Brand:1990:p178). In 1846 a post mill was constructed enabling the settlement to grind its own flour. 
 
In April 1845 James Boyd, one of the original wardens of Pentonville Prison, was appointed senior assistant superintendent. He was firm in his belief that ‘separation, watchfulness and restraint are, or ought to be, the grand cardinal objects to be sought for in all good systems of prison discipline’ (Boyd quoted in Syme:1848:p361). Although it made use of recycled buildings from the former penal station, Darlington was praised for the manner in which it conformed to the classificatory ideals of the probation system, both in management and architecturally.  In December 1845 Boyd wrote a detailed report on Darlington and noted how the men were classed: ‘The gang, which usually musters about 600 men, is divided into four classes, the first being composed of the best behaved prisoners; the second, of the tolerably good; the third, of the indifferent; and the fourth is the chain-gang and crime-class’ (Brand:1990). The prisoners were located in accommodation according to class. Men of the first-class were housed in 20 out-huts, holding from three to 24 men each. The whole of the second and third were accommodated in six large rooms in the convict barracks. These rooms were constantly illuminated and each housed 66 men where the berths were ‘arranged in three tiers’ and were ‘divided by separation boards, about 13 inches deep’ (Brand:1975:129-155&159-188).  There were 102 separate apartments for the chain-gang and crime-class and ‘men specially ordered to be kept separate on account of unnatural propensities’ (Brand:1990:23).The classification of prisoners according to behaviour and the ordering of the spaces which they occupied were closely connected.
 
Boyd reported serious crimes at Darlington, including the bludgeoning of an officer and conspiracies to attack, shoot or poison officials but details of homosexual activities were cut from the printed Parliamentary Paper.  In 1847 Darlington was cleared of all convicts to receive 369 prisoners, almost all direct from England (Knaggs:2006:p6).
 
In early November 1849, Irish political prisoner, William Smith O’Brien was sent to the island after refusing to give his word that he would not attempt to abscond.  During the 1840’s Smith O’Brien was a follower and one time leader of O’Connell’s Repeal Movement in Ireland. Later in the decade O’Brien formed the ‘Confederation’ which looked to the revolution in France as a model for Irish independence. In 1848 O’Brien was arrested and convicted of high treason. His death sentence was reduced to transportation and he and four of his colleagues arrived at Maria Island on 31st October 1849. O’Brien occupied two of the three conjoined cottages probably originally built between 1842 and 1849 as conjoined two-room Officer’s Quarters and now known as Smith O’Brien’s Building (Prettyman:1970:p24). In August 1850 an escape attempt by O’Brien was thwarted and O’Brien was removed to Port Arthur in October 1850. 
 
Darlington was one of the largest probation stations, its peak population was 492 convicts in 1846 (Maxwell-Stewart:2006:p47). It was also one of the longest lived, operating for a total of nine years. It was only closed after the decision was made to confine all convicts still undergoing probation to the stations on the Tasman Peninsula in 1850 (Knaggs:2006:p8). 
 
The first industrial era 1884 - 1896
Following intermittent agricultural leasing between 1852 and 1883, the island attracted interest from Italian entrepreneur, Diego Bernacchi, who started a wine-making and silk industry.  The Maria Island Company was floated in 1887 to add agriculture, cement, timber and fishery to the enterprises already undertaken. After Bernacchi became Managing Director, Darlington (renamed San Diego in 1888) became a bustling township of over 250 people of many nationalities with a school, shops, butcher, baker, blacksmith, shoemaker, post office etc (P&WS:1999). Cement works were set up in the late 1880s utilising the island’s limestone deposits (Pretyman:1970:28). The opening of the Grand Hotel in 1888 (now demolished), complete with dining, billiard and accommodation rooms, saw the promotion of the island as a pleasure resort and sanatorium.  Also constructed in Bernacchi’s time were the coffee palace, a row of workers’ cottages known as the ‘twelve apostles’ and the Bernacchi’s terraces (two sets of three terraced cottages built using bricks from the demolished convict separate apartment cells). Other old convict buildings were re-modelled to house workers, managers and shops. Bernacchi’s family resided in the old religious instructor’s house for a time (Knaggs:2006:9). 
 
Despite Bernacchi’s efforts, the Maria Island Company went into liquidation in 1892. Bernacchi continued to promote the island’s fledgling cement industry and formed a new company for that purpose. It was short-lived, and in 1896 Bernacchi and his family left for Melbourne, and then to London. After Bernacchi’s departure, tourists continued to frequent the island where a boarding house was run in the old coffee palace. A small pastoral community also became established and San Diego once again became Darlington - a rustic retreat for a few holiday makers or the farming families that settled there. 
 
The second industrial era 1920 - 1930
On 8 February 1924 Bernacchi returned to Darlington and opened the Cement Works Company and community life prospered for the 500 or so residents.  The existing Darlington buildings, including the Penitentiary, the Mess Room, the Visiting Magistrate's and Superintendent's office and the Coffee Palace, were modified for re-use. With failing health, Bernacchi left for Melbourne in 1924, where he died a little over a year later with his illusion of success unspoiled by the economic realities that soon followed (Knaggs:2006:10).  The company faced problems resulting from the depression and coal and cement production had ceased by 1930. The population of the island dwindled and buildings were dismantled and removed. The small number of people remaining ran sheep and cattle and fished. 
 
A National Park
Following a brief attempt to revive the working of limestone deposits, the Tasmanian Government recognised the potential of the island, both as an historic site and a flora and fauna reserve. 
 
From 1 June 1971, the island was declared a Wildlife Sanctuary under the control of the Animals and Birds Protection Board. The National Parks and Wildlife Service was formed in November of that year, and assumed responsibility for the island, which was proclaimed a National Park on 14 June 1972. Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania now manage the Island including the Darlington Precinct and associated features. A Marine Reserve was declared in 1991 protecting marine life in the waters surrounding the northern part of the island (Knaggs:2006:10).

Condition:
The settlement layout and landscape features are evident at Darlington Precinct with standing convict, agricultural and industrial structures from two convict periods and subsequent industrial periods is in good condition. 
 
Most of the first and second convict period structures have been re-roofed with corrugated iron. The remaining structures and ruins on the site have been subject to conservation treatment to stabilise the fabric and restore their original limewash simplicity. A substantial conservation program over a decade in the 1990s has resulted in the conservation of several of the major buildings of the site. 
 
The barn of the second convict period is in very good condition, all walls standing and the evidence of layered history of convict, cement works, agriculture and housing of artefact material are all still present. Poorly fired convict made brick contribute to deteriorating brickwork. 
 
The separate apartments was partially demolished by Bernacchi to construct his industrial enterprise. There is, however, substantial external walls and subsurface evidence of the structure as well as plans and photographs as evidence of what was there.
 
Many of the ruins of the 1920s cement works, which were in a dangerous state of repair have been demolished, leaving a number of tangible reminders of the island’s two industrial periods, such as the cement silos, raw mill and foundations of  structures. 
 
The traces of Bernacchi’s proposed wine industry is still evident in the rubble of the ‘twelve apostles’ which were built to house workers in the vineyards (Weidenhofer:1991:61). There are land formations of the vineyards and the cultural landscape is still in place despite periods of agriculture between periods of development.
 
In the summers of 1995 and 1996, a Maria Island Cultural Resource Survey, using student volunteers, catalogued artefacts and recorded additional historic sites. All records of these recording projects are maintained by Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service. 
 
Bibliographic References:
Brand, I. 1975. The convict buildings of Maria Island Part 1. in Tasmanian Historical Research Association Volume 1, No. 3 September 1975. 
 
Brand, I. 1990.  The Convict Probation System: Van Diemen's Land 1839-1854 , Blubber Head Press, Hobart.
 
Department of the Environment and Heritage (Knaggs, M). 2006 National Heritage List Nomination, Darlington and Point Lesueur Historic Precincts, Maria Island.
 
Evans, K. 1993. Hop Industry Historical Research Project Volume 1: A Social and Economic History. A report for the Parks and Wildlife Service. 
 
Forward Consultants/ 1984. The Maria Island Conservation Report. For the National Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Forward Consultants. 1984. The Maria Island Conservation Report – Archaeologists Report. For the National Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Forward Consultants. 1984. The Maria Island Conservation Report – Building Fabric Analyses. For the National Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Gilfedder, F. and Assoc. (1997) Darlington, Maria Island: Heritage Vegetation Study  Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania.
 
Godden Mackay Pty Ltd (1995) Darlington Precinct, Maria Island, Smith O'Brien's Cottage, the Mess Hall, the Coffee Palace: Conservation Plans Report prepared for Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Godden Mackay Pty Ltd (1995) Darlington Precinct, Maria Island, Smith O'Brien's Cottage, the Mess Hall, the Coffee Palace: Conservation Plans Report prepared for Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Lawrence, S and Staniforth, M. 1998. The Archaeology of Whaling in Southern Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology Special Publication. No 10. 
 
Ludeke, M. A. (2001). Tasmania's Maria Island: A comprehensive History and Visitor's Guide. Ludeke Publishing. 
 
Macfie, P (1991). Historic Report on First Cement Works, Maria Island. Report prepared for Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. 
 
Maria Island National Park. A brief history of European occupation. Tasmania’s cultural heritage.  Pamphlet. 
 
Maxwell-Stewart, H. 2006. Consultant’s report “ World Heritage Serial Nomination for Australian Convict Sites”. Department of the Environment and Heritage. 
 
Nash, M. 2003. The Bay Whalers; Tasmania’s shore-based whaling industry. Navarine Publishing. Canberra ACT.
 
Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania (1999) Parks and Places: Maria Island: Historic Darlington Fact Sheet published by the Tasmanian Department of Tourism Parks Heritage and the Arts.
 
Prettyman, E.R. 1970. Some notes on Maria Island and its penal settlements. Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. 
 
Syme, J. 1848.  Nine Years in Van Diemen's Land, McCosh, Park & Dewars, Dundee.
 
Weidenhofer, M (1991) Maria Island: A Tasmanian Eden. B & M Reid.