Semaphore Score

I think of time spent in the library and archives as divining or prospecting – a process of uncovering unexpected things displaced from memory.

Margaret Woodward – February 2026

Margaret was awarded the first Creative Fellowship at the State Library and Archives of Tasmania in 2024. The exhibition Semaphore Score presents her art and research alongside the histories, language and artefacts she explored as a Fellow.

In particular, Semaphore Score is inspired by one extraordinary item Margaret discovered in the State Library and Archives of Tasmania collection – the 1868 Tasman Peninsula – Semaphore Code Dictionary.

The dictionary lists more than 3,000 words and phrases used by colonial administrators to communicate between Nipaluna/Hobart and the penal settlement at Port Arthur.

From 1834 to 1877 messages were sent across eight signal stations between Tukana/Tasman Peninsula and Nipaluna/Hobart via flags and wooden structures with movable arms.

The handmade flags in Semaphore Score mirror the positions of the signal arms, each representing a number from 0 through to 9. They have been dyed using local plants Margaret collected, connecting them to the landscape of Lutruwita/Tasmania.

A new semaphore code

Margaret created a Semaphore Score code book in response to her enquiry:

Through this artwork I ask myself how this militaristic language might be … recomposed to create messages of care, concern and stewardship.

Keeping some of the original entries and introducing new ones, her modern code book offers a thoughtfully renewed vocabulary that expands on – and challenges – the 1868 dictionary. The new code and flags were used to send public messages at The Unconformity in Queenstown in October 2025.

Visiting the exhibition

Explore the Semaphore Code Dictionary the handmade flags and the artefacts Margaret researched during her Creative Fellowship.

Write your own message using the signal card provided. Drop your signal card into the Semaphore Score post box to be transcribed into the Semaphore Score logbook.

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