The photograph above shows the Signal Station on Mount Nelson around the year 1880.
It served as Hobart’s main communication hub for more than a century, watching the River Derwent day and night.
Eyes on the Derwent
When Van Diemen’s Land was established as a British colony in 1803, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Governor of New South Wales. A Lieutenant-Governor was appointed to manage the colony’s day-to-day affairs, while the NSW Governor visited occasionally to inspect conditions and issue orders directly.*
In 1809, British Army officer Lachlan Macquarie was appointed Governor of New South Wales. During his visit to Van Diemen’s Land from November 1811 to January 1812, he ordered the construction of a signal station on Mount Nelson** to improve communication between Hobart and incoming ships. He also saw it as an important step in protecting Hobart from foreign threats.***
Before Macquarie’s visit, communication with incoming ships depended on smoke signals from Betsey Island, which was probably an unreliable method.
Mount Nelson – which is mainly comprised of Jurassic dolerite like kunanyi / Mount Wellington – was named after the HMS Lady Nelson, the brig that was part of the fleet that brought the first British settlers to Van Diemen’s Land in 1803.
Once the Signal Station was built, the men stationed there used flag signals to report the arrival of ships in the Derwent.
The Evolution of Signal Tech
Signalling technology improved over the years following the construction of the Signal Station.
In 1831, the Station began using a three-armed semaphore system capable of sending 666 different messages.
It was upgraded in 1838 to include six arms, increasing the number of signals to over 900,000. As a result, communication between Hobart and Port Arthur became much faster, with messages regarding escaped convicts taking around 15 minutes to travel between the two locations in clear weather.
The semaphore system started to decline in the 1880s when a telephone line was installed to link the Signal Station with the telegraph office in Hobart. It became totally redundant when radio technology was added.
Both the radio and telephone equipment were regularly maintained and upgraded to make sure communication stayed reliable.
Signal Duty
The Signal Station was staffed by a head signalman and two assistants, who usually lived on-site with their families.
They worked in rotating three-hour shifts from six in the morning to nine at night and endured all kinds of weather, from summer bushfires to winter storms.
In 1947, the post-WWII housing crisis briefly disrupted operations at the Signal Station. The Mercury reported on 3 September 1947:
“Because of the housing shortage on Mt Nelson, the Hobart Marine Board’s signal station is not manned for nearly six hours of daylight each day.
Because no accommodation is available at the station, the board has not been able to increase the station staff to permit a 24-hour watch. At its meeting yesterday, the board decided to build two houses near the signal station.
The Master Warden (Mr J. W. Turner) said it might be necessary to pay the two present officers overtime to maintain a daylight watch.
At present, the signal station is manned from 4 am till 8 am, 9 am till 11.17 am, 4 pm till 6 pm, and 7 pm till 11.17 pm. Signalmen work a 44-hour week.”
The push to get the Station fully up and running again shows just how important it was at the time.
Historic Landmark
The Signal Station continued to serve as a ship-to-shore radio-telephone base until it closed for good in 1969, after 158 years of service.
Ten years later, in 1979, the Parks and Wildlife Service took over the site’s management and preservation.
The house that was built in 1897 for the head signalman and his family operated as a café and restaurant for many years before the business went into liquidation in early 2025.
The Signal Station building remains open to the public daily as a small museum with no entry charge.
** Van Diemen’s Land didn’t become a separate colony until 1825.
** Governor Macquarie chose Mount Nelson because of its “extensive and noble prospects in every direction for a vast distance to the sea, as far as the eye can reach”.
*** Relations between Great Britain and France weren’t great at the time. The British were aware that the French were interested in Van Diemen’s Land and understood that if a war broke out, the French might invade the colony. This likely would have disrupted communication between New South Wales and Britain through Bass Strait, so the Mount Nelson Signal Station was established in part as a protective measure.
The Mount Nelson Signal Station (c.1880-90).
Tas That Was is a column that includes:
- anecdotes of life in Tasmania in the past;
- historical photographs of locations in Tasmania; and/or
- documentaries about locations in Tasmania.
If you have an anecdote or photograph you’d like to share with us, please send it to [email protected].
Callum J. Jones studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania and lived in Western Sydney from 2022 to 2024 while working as a journalist for Professional Planner, a leading online publication for financial planners. He has written for Tasmanian Times since 2018 and has also been published in a range of other outlets, including Quadrant and the BAD Western Sydney anthologies.
Tasmanian Times (TT) is a community-based news and current affairs service covering the island state of Tasmania. It exists to provide a diverse view of Tasmanian issues. TT creates and supports independent media content utilising the best of modern technologies and tried-and-true practices of public-interest journalism.
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