Hobart Semaphore Station

The Hobart Semaphore Station stands on a ridge in Battery Point, marked by a tall, skeletal wooden mast with hinged arms that once pivoted to transmit signals. Built in eighteen eighteen, this tower linked Hobart to the Tasman Peninsula, relaying messages about ship arrivals and escaped convicts through a series of wooden shutter signals. It operated on a manual code that could send news across the hills faster than any horse could run. Sailors watched this mast to know when they were cleared to dock.