Speaker 1: Libraries Tasmania recognises the deep histories and cultures of the Aboriginal people of Lutruwita/Tasmania. We acknowledge Tasmanian Aboriginal people as the traditional and continuing custodians of the land, waters, and sky. We pay respect to the elders, past and present, who hold the memories, traditions, culture, and knowledge of country. We extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples whose countries were never ceded.
Margaret Woodward: I’m Margaret Woodward. I’m an artist, designer, researcher, and publisher, and I live here in Nipaluna, Tasmania. My research background is essentially in communication designs. So my PhD a number of years ago looked at the communication of natural and cultural heritage material and the design of that. And in fact, a lot of that research I did here in the state archives around 2006. I’ve, uh, done a number of projects where I’ve used resources in the state library and the archives, and I just think this is such a rich collection of material. And so I’ve always found this to be a really rewarding place. I’ve, I’ve used the archives in a number of creative projects, and so the opportunity to just spend a whole year here with the support and to be able to have access to things that perhaps you wouldn’t normally get access to and to have the support financially, also, to create a work for the library just seemed like a fantastic opportunity.
The initial hook that got me into the topic, um, that I’m currently researching really came from a previous project that I worked on which was looking at the history of mining in Tasmania. And during that process, I was looking at, um, letters between mine managers, and I came across these, uh, letters that seemed to be written in code language. You know, words that, th- that to me really caught my eye, but I didn’t understand them because they’re obviously written in code. And even next to it, it said, “Code word.” And so this in- intrigued me, and so I was… I went off on that tangent thinking, “Why, why is there a code language in mining communication?”
The Port Arthur code book is digitised and it’s online, so I, I previously had only visualised it on the screen. But to be able to hold that artefact and to touch it and feel that, that it’s been touched and handwritten, uh, you know, over around 200 years ago is quite remarkable. And to be able to flip through that as a book rather than scrolling through it on, on, um, the screen is… also brings another very, um, tangible dimension to it.
Um, so the semaphore system, um, the way the, the Port Arthur dictionary operated was by using, um, a code system using flags and a semaphore flagstaff, which had arms on it that are… uh, could be moved into different positions to communicate a number. And that number could be up as far as 9,999. So the semaphore dictionary has 3,000 numbered entries. Some of those are words. Some of them are phrases. And it meant that, like, a very precise message could be communicated by constructing it essentially from the list of words and phrases in there.
So I’ve been transcribing that dictionary. I’ve been writing, uh, you know, lists. I’ve been getting to know the words in there, getting to know the phraseology and using that as the starting point to write my own code language. Part of the work is going to be written document, and it’s going to be a contemporary code book for Tasmania. And the other part of it is designing a code, a visual code which will be, um, symbolised on a series of flags, uh, so that tho-… that code can be communicated in a contemporary way.
Um, so as well as writing the code language book, I’m also going to be sewing, or I’m in the middle of sewing, a set of semaphore flags so that that code language can be communicated here in the library or out in the environment. So the flags are, are semaphore flags that can be used to signal numbers, and those numbers will correspond to my code language. I’m also going to set… sew a large set of flags that will be installed here in the library that can be read as a set of words or phrases that kind of make up a poem as you, as you look at them.
I’m using… Rather than using the, the very military or maritime, uh, colour schemes of, uh, you know, red- reds and blues and yellows, I’m using plant pigments and plant dyes from the natural environment or from things that I’m growing in my garden to dye the fabric to, to sew those flags. So again, the, the flags have a, a sense of place. They co-… They are coloured by the, the, the plants and the minerals around us rather than being imported as a, an, a, a, a kind of a military colour system.