Flinders Island's Wybalenna: Why Reflection Is Best When Visiting

All of our active holidays in Tasmania will take you through exquisite landscapes that stir the senses and awaken the spirit. These environments have healing qualities – some reduce stress and refresh the soul, others stimulate ideas and make us ponder our places, and some simply get the body back a to a healthy normal rhythm that modern life disrupts.

Meanwhile, others offer time and space for serious reflection, like Wybalenna on Flinders Island.

There’s no doubt that Wybalenna, a treeless stretch of gently sloping grasslands on the west side of Flinders Island, has a sad history. In 1847 dozens of Tasmanian Aboriginal people died there while waiting to be transported back to ‘mainland’ Tasmania.

It’s important to reflect and remember what happened. Tragedies are a part of our collective psyche for good reason – hopefully they aren’t repeated. 

But it’s also important to move on – we have to. And sometimes it’s possible to view things through a more positive light.

No one can ever rewrite history when it comes to Wybalenna,  but when you visit this starkly beautiful area, it's important to let it become part of your humanity while not appropriating the entire Wybalenna experience.

Truganini, an elder with the Nuenonne people, was one of those who went to Wybalenna in 1835.

In her 2000 book, Truganini: Journey Through The Apocalypse, Cassandra Pybus points out that while the dark periods of Truganini’s life have been thoroughly hashed out, she and some of her contemporaries thrived despite their troubles with European settlement.

Indeed, Pybus’ book describes Truganini as being wholly in sync with the natural world around her, a natural swimmer who loved diving for crayfish, an expert possum catcher, and a sharp negotiator with the white settlers that came. Truganini’s life did have some bright spots.

And that’s the importance of Wybalenna – creating better memories for yourself and to share them with those you love. 

While the natural beauty of Flinders Island can’t entirely erase what happened at Wybalenna, it can certainly make you put those things aside, even if for just a short while.

Just a short distance north of Wybalenna is the Emita Nature Recreation Area where you can access the Castle Rock Walk, one of Tasmania’s Great Short Walks. The 6.4-kilometre  (return) track meanders along Marshall Bay, crossing coastal hinterlands en route to the track’s namesake, a massive granite boulder.

As you walk this unspoilt coastline, you’ll see dozens of shearwaters (muttonbirds). They build their nests in the ground, and are a delight to follow through the air. The backdrop to their aerial antics is a knockout view across Bass Strait.

Other wildlife who inhabit the lower realms of the viewplain include Bennetts wallabies, pademelons potoroos, possums, echidnas, and wombats.

And depending on the time of year, you might get to the magical springtime bloom, when dozens of flower species are poking their heads out – the rock orchids and shy bush are especially appealing.

After your walk, you can visit the nearby museum and learn how Flinders islanders dealt with the isolation of their chosen home and about their perseverance to thrive.

Wybalenna is on an island off an island off an island, with sapphire waters lapping at tangerine-colored granite. Flinders was originally called Great Island, but the name was changed in the 1800s to honour Matthew Flinders. You can lose yourself in beauty here. 

The relics of Wybalenna give us insight into a chapter of Tasmanian history that is quite bleak, but important to know. No one can ever rewrite history when it comes to Wybalenna, but when you visit this starkly beautiful area, it’s important to let it become part of your humanity while not appropriating the entire Wybalenna experience.