Escape to St Marys, Tasmania: A combination of beach and bush beauty

A dash of exquisite tranquillity, a dab of “artsy vibes” and a dollop of beautiful scenery: the tiny town of St Marys has just the right ingredients to make it heaven on earth for almost 700 residents.

Found on the east coast of Tasmania, St Marys is close enough to the coast to be beachy  and inland enough to be bushy. The hamlet is nestled in rugged mountain territory and sits in the shadow of St Patrick’s Head, a pinnacle set 694 metres above ground.

A word you’ll often see when looking through tourist sites and traveller recommendations is quaint. But when asked about the town, locals more commonly use the word friendly.

In a town of so few people, most residents know each well enough for a passing hello or, even better, a decent chinwag.

It’s the kind of place generations of family members don’t bother moving away from and the perfect escape for a growing number of tree-changers who never want to see gridlock again.

Population: 682, as at the 2016 census

Who lives there?

When Peter and Ian Power-Lawrence decided to trade in the whirlwind-pace of Melbourne life for something much slower and closer to nature, they chose St Marys.

They had never heard of the town, but knew it was the right fit once they had time to check out the local haunts.

They fell in love with Todd’s Hall, a cultural hub of live music that sadly burnt down in 2002.

Seeing the way the community then pulled together only solidified their decision that St Marys was the right place. However, the pair were initially baffled by the friendliness of the locals.

“When we first got here we arrived before our furniture so I went into town to get some supplies and I’m walking down the main street and this guy walked towards me and said, ‘G’day mate’ and I said, ‘Are you talking to me?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, you mate – how ya going?’ and I was thinking, ‘What does he want?’” Peter said.

“It was so different. Going into the supermarket, all the shopkeepers were so happy and smiling, which was great, but seemed weird at the start

“I said to Ian, ‘There’s something about this town, it’s just not like the city. Everyone smiles and says hello’.”

The Power-Lawrences run the Luma Eco Chalets, which overlook Tasmania’s Bay of Fires, named after the Indigenous fires seen by Captain Tobias Furneaux when he sailed past in 1773 and possibly the bright orange lichen growing on so many of the granite boulders lining the bay.

“We have people from all over the world come to stay, as well as mainland Australians and also Tasmanians,” Peter said.

“People say it’s quaint, but not tacky quaint. They see it as a really nice place to live and a bit of an alternative town.”

What happens there?

Life is quiet in St Marys, but not when the annual Car and Bike Show roars into town. The huge event has been held on the Queen’s Birthday weekend in June for the past 13 years.

The show has grown bigger each year and last year saw 300 cars and bikes take over the streets. It has also turned into something of a community festival with market and food stalls, and live music performances.

The show aims to raise money for local businesses during the tough months of winter, as does the Bay of Fires Art Festival. The festival is a tourist drawcard and while it centres on the nearby town of St Helens, it also reaches up to Binalong Bay and down to St Marys and Scamander.

Artists in all media, from painting, sculpture and music, compete for the $20,000 Bay of Fires Art Prize.

For most locals, the shops and cafes are where the action happens. At St Marys Hotel, Lauren Webb is a familiar face to regulars and the 130 members of the social club.

“People pay their membership and we host events throughout the year that cost very little to attend,” she said.

“Occasionally we organise a bus tour to go elsewhere, but generally we tend to bring the business into the town. So there’s dinner parties, Christmas in July, karaoke nights, live music nights.”

The hotel was originally built in the 1800s but was destroyed by fire before being rebuilt in 1910. Sitting prominently on the corner of Story and Main streets, the hotel comes alive for Thursday evening happy hours.

And while the parma and schnitz specials are crowd-pleasers, a new dish has trumped them both.

“We have a new chef who started early this year so he’s still tweaking the menu and he does an excellent nasi goreng, everyone raves about it,” Webb said.

What’s life like?

Anyone will tell you life in St Marys is peaceful. Its proximity to the beauty of Wineglass Bay and Freycinet National Park make it a great village base camp for bushwalkers, and cyclists love the rides over the Elephant Pass and St Marys Pass.

Once a convict working station, St Marys was heavily populated in the early 1800s. Local aristocrats directed the convicts to work on local infrastructure projects and while many of the town’s historic buildings still stand, its population waned through the 1900s.

Yet Harcourts real estate agent Heidi Howe said St Marys had come into its own in recent years and the population was steadily growing.

“People from St Marys used to go to St Helens to do their shopping once a week and now they can do it in St Marys,” she said.

“In recent years there’s now a chemist, several cafes, service station, newsagency, a hardware store and two IGA supermarkets. Little things like that have happened in the past two to three years.

“St Helens is getting bigger and so St Marys was automatically going to get bigger as well.”

And when there’s an on-flow in St Helens with a whole load of tourists, it eventually flows through to St Marys.

“St Helens is now so busy, it has supposedly made St Marys people think let’s just stick to our own turf and make St Marys great again.”

With some homes priced under $200,000 the affordable property prices have made the town a natural fit for those looking to escape the rat race. At the pricier end, it suits cashed-up nature lovers who just want to get back to basics.

“A good three-bedroom house costs around $280,000, but you can still find some bargains under $200,000,” Howe said.

“And then you’ve got your properties with incredible water views and they’re at the $800,000 to $900,000 mark at Gray, so there’s a bit of everything in the one spot.”

$239,000

39 Main Street, St Marys TAS 7215

3

1

3

View property

What jobs are there?

Forestry and mining used to be the main sources of income for St Marys locals and while Cornwall Coal is still a major employer, the town is home to a growing variety of industries.

The local hospital accounts for a large portion of the 22.9 per cent of community and personal service workers in the town. Following hospitals, ABS data shows supermarket and grocery stores are the second biggest employers with aged care residential services coming third.

Why should you move there?

The abundance of local beaches and bushland makes St Marys an enviable corner of the world. It’s hard to believe home prices are so cheap, given properties at nearby towns are typically more expensive.

All this beauty at such a cheap price even makes the winter weather, which regularly dips below zero, more bearable.