Colonial Codes Come Alive in Hobart

A colonial era communication system has been transformed into an immersive exhibition at the State Library and Archives in Hobart.

Created by inaugural Creative Fellow Margaret Woodward over a 12-month period, ‘Semaphore Score’ invites visitors to decode large, handmade semaphore flags dyed with local plants and to translate the codes into messages.

Visitors can also create their own messages, which will be transcribed into a crowd-sourced message log for signalling.

Additionally, videos of signalling performances are shown alongside archival material from the State Archives. A series of public events and artist talks will take place throughout the exhibition period as well, featuring live decoding, language building, and performances.

Semaphore Score – which debuted as a live project at The Unconformity in October 2025 – was inspired by the 1868 Tasman Peninsula Semaphore Code Dictionary, a colonial era book that was used to send coded messages between Port Arthur and Hobart during the nineteenth century.

It comprises two columns on each page, with a row of well-thumbed tabs of alphabetic vertebra along the fore edge. Each column displays a numerical listing of entries, from one to more than three thousand. There are large, calligraphic headings for groups such as ‘Prisoners Absconding’ and ‘Provisions’.

“There are 3,000 words and phrases in the dictionary that were used in the coded messages sent between Hobart and Port Arthur,” Margaret Woodward said.

“They were sent via a set of seven semaphore signal stations and could be delivered in around 15 minutes.”

Woodward added that the dictionary was created by Charles O’Hara Booth, the commandant of Port Arthur between 1833 and 1844.

“He was inspired by a semaphore system he’d seen in France and thought, ‘This could work here’ [at Port Arthur],” she said, adding that the penal settlement needed this rapid communication system primarily to let Hobart know about escaped convicts.

Booth would go on to write the original code language that appears in the dictionary and scout the Tasman Peninsula for suitable sites for the signal stations.

Woodward’s careful reading of the Tasman Peninsula Semaphore Code Dictionary and other material in the State Archives shaped the publication of a revised semaphore codebook, which introduces language that is more relevant to life today.

The Semaphore Score exhibition will continue at the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts until Sunday, 31 May 2026.

Tasmania’s semaphore history

Semaphore signalling began in Tasmania in 1811, when the Mount Nelson Signal Station was established in Hobart.

In 1835, a semaphore telegraph was introduced in the Tamar Valley to relay shipping information between Low Head, George Town, and Launceston. By the following year, Hobart’s network had been extended to Port Arthur.

From the mid-1850s, electric telegraph technology began to replace semaphore systems. The semaphore stations in the Tamar Valley closed in 1858, but the ones in Hobart remained in operation, albeit in a limited capacity. Semaphore signalling effectively came to an end in the 1880s, when Tasmania’s first telephone line was installed between Hobart and Mount Nelson.

Photo Gallery

Callum J. Jones is passionate about telling stories. He 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. Callum 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.