xenith | Island Trek: In which we check out some ruins

This is a long post, but I wanted to get to a good stopping point in the narrative.

So, if you can remember back to last time, we were up on the hill. Now, we go down.

And see if there is anything at the bottom. OK I know there's someting, because I have a brochure that says there is. Somewhere.

Still going down. The track here is obvious, which is good. There were a few places earlier where I wondered if what we were following was the track or just some worn grass, but we ended up in the right place so...

Away from the track, the trees are higher and thicker. We did see a kangaroo up amongst them. I forgot now if I mentioned that back in the 1960s, various endangered species were introduced to the island including the Cape Barren Geese, Forester Kangaroos and Bennetts Wallabies. According to the newspaper last Saturday, they're about to introduce a small number of healthy devils from captive populations to see what effect they have on the ecology.

It's an easy walk, and quite pleasant. Also, mobile signal so I can check email

At the bottom of the hill we find this.

The large red brick ruin was the Engine House, built in 1887 (from the First Industrial Era). Now the cool thing about this is, oh, we're going to look up the back first.

In the hills behind [the Engine House] are kilns that were used for lime and brick manufacture. Some date frm the first convict era, others from the 1880s.

I'm assuming these are the older ones, ~~because they're not as well built~~ ~~because they look older~~ but there's nothing to indicate either way unless you get up close and look at the bricks, and considering the look of the surface, I'm not inclined to do that.

They seem to be built from rock, with brick arches, although the bit sticking out towards the cameras looks to be a mixture of brick and stone layers.

These are over a bit further. One of those times where a small photos just does not work, because this was just very cool. See, it is not a wall.

It is built INTO THE HILL. OK I find that cool :)

Now what is through that door?

Over in the corner are lots of spiders webs full of the stupid little black flies (and possible some ants) that keep gathering in clouds all over the place.

Back to the Engine House, but not this way.

DO NOT ENTER
DANGEROUS RUIN

If I'd worn sensible shoes, I might have been able to go down-- oh wait, I am wearing them.

Now as I was saying before, the cool thing about this place is

YOU CAN GO INSIDE.

We leave here and walk until we get to the creek. Hang on. There's supposed to be a track heading off to the left. *frowning at map* Map is more of a pretty coloured diagram with big numbers all over it and possibly not all that reliable, but it is all we have. All one copy of it by now, because mine went missing ages ago. So where the track coming down the hill meets the track heading out that way which we crossed leaving the big brick place, ah, the track to the left is back a bit and on the right now. We left the site of the engine house too far down.

Backtrack then, while I search for the right route and Mother asks what am I doing, and we're both probably wondering if this is worth it.

Oh yes.

Entrance gate and chimneys from (according to that little plaque) the "Manager's or Engineer's House". Also note the little cottage over in the trees. Both dates from the late 1880s.

These look like the front stairs.

I'd say hallway down the middle, two rooms either side with a chimney between them. At the time we thought basement, ground floor (with the fireplace opening and masonry on chimney) and another floor above. Looking at it now... houses in the 1880s had high roofs and tall chimneys, so one storey with something blow.

Now across to the "partly restored Worker's Cottage". Not the lack of paths leading to the Worker's Cottage. There is a lack of paths anywhere, except for the main tracks.

The other day I was talking to my sister about "interpretation". Interpretation being where people come in and put up information for visitors to Enhance The Experience, and put in paths to show visitors where to walk and clean up all the nasty, messy stuff that has accumulated over the years. It's all one neat and tidy package, and visitors are guided from one carefully presented point to the next, where they are informed of the Significance of whatever is in front of them. And in the process, something is lost. It's hard to explain, but it's like putting a wall between visitors and what they're looking at. Like the glass at a museum. And generally it is just looking too: standing on a modern platform, visually and physically removed from the actual site.

OK accessibility and safety are important, and providing background information and pointing out features that would otherwise be missed can enhance the experience. Like in Triabunna. Just a handful of panels in the street made the town much more interesting. But it is too easy to too go far and this stuff is appearing EVERYWHERE. The last time I walked up to the Gorge, these BRIGHT YELLOW ~~builder's depot rejects~~ flat pipe things had been stuck along the walkway with little blurbs about the river and thylacines and some other crap that didn't seem immediately related to its surroundings anyway. Come on, if you can't walk along the Cataract Gorge and appreciate it just for it is, don't go up there, all right? Stick to watching your TV.

Anyway, here we are on Maria Island with its tracks that aren't even obvious as tracks in places and small plaque (as in previous photo) that you don't see until you're on them, and occasional sign posts at intersections. Outside of Darlington, that's pretty much it. And we had a brochure that gave us background information if we wanted to read it. No intrusive paths, except where needed. We had to find our own way across ditches and down rocks, and we could walk among things, and look at what we wanted to look at, and touch/smell/hear/actually interact with what was around us.

Right, Worker's Cottage. Partly restored?!

Verandah posts?

Around the back, there's a high window that I could put camera into. Two of these resulting photos are below, with an excessively lightened version so you can see details.

They came out better than I thought considering camera didn't want to work because it had nothing to focus on, I had to use the timer and someone kept shouting "Are you going to come up and take a photo of this or will we keep going?"

That's the "this" I had to take a photo of.

We picked our way back down the slope and over the ditch, then followed the track to the creek which, according to our brochure, we had to ford. Not sure I'd want to try this in spring, unless I had an extra pair of shoes. No safe, secure paths here :)

Pick the course of the creek! There are camping areas along the edge of the creek.

On the other side, you see the cement silos and commissariat story, and maybe the jetty through the top of the trees.

It's a easy walk from here to Darlington, if a bit dull.

This is a culvert, over a drain. Why am I taking photos of a culvert?

Fossils. Used in drainage works. The same on the other side of the road too.

I like this place.

Is that a building up ahead?

Considering the ferry was full on the trip over, we haven't seen many people since leaving the landing area. So far: a couple walking up the hill as we were coming down, a family sitting on a log eating lunch, and the ones that have appeared in photos. Not exactly overrun with tourists :)

Just before the town though, a series of ruins of twelve houses.

Known as the Twelve Apostles, these were built in the 1880s to house works from Diego Bernacchi's vineyards. There were removed in the 1930s to Maria St, New Town, a Hobart suburb.

(Are they ruins if the bulk of the building was moved elsewhere and rebuilt?)

From Friends of the Orphan School and St John's Park Precinct:

"The houses were dismantled and sent by boat to Hobart where they were reassembled in Maria St, next to the Sanatorium, and used to house families impoverished by the Great Depression."

As they were when in use