The Semaphore Cottage will now be open for regularly scheduled tours on the last Wednesday of every month, inviting locals and tourists alike to step back in time and discover the role this humble building played in shaping Tasmania’s maritime and communication history. For private guided tours, please contact the Museum to organise.

In 1936, one of Hobart's first heritage conservation campaigns was waged to save the Semaphore Cottage in Princes Park, Battery Point from demolition. Although, by then derelict, the brick cottage was recognised as being the last survivor of the chain of semaphore stations in the south of the island.

Led by the Shiplovers' Society of Tasmania, supporters of the cottage's preservation convinced the building's owners, the Hobart City Council, to not only save the building but restore it as part of the development of Princes Park. In January 1940, the Lord Mayor, John Soundy, formally declared the restored cottage and reconstructed semaphore signal mast to be a memorial to the part played by the semaphore and signallers in the early history of Tasmania.

Recognised as the oldest surviving building in Battery Point, the cottage was built in 1818 as the guardhouse for the Mulgrave Battery, Hobart's first defensive fortification. Named after the Earl of Mulgrave, the battery had extensive earthen ramparts and was armed with six naval cannons on wooden carriages. On the hill behind the battery, a signal staff was erected to communicate with the recently-established lookout on Mount Nelson.

Within a few years, a second staff to support a semaphore (or optical telegraph) had also been built near the guardhouse. The semaphore intended to signal the impending arrival of shipping to the port and used movable arms rather than shutters following the recent practice adopted by the British Admiralty in 1817. The Mulgrave Battery signal station became the first in a chain of stations that extended to Mount Nelson, then to Mount Louis, Tinderbox, and finally Mount Royal near Gordon, a distance of 54 kilometres.

By 1836 the system had been extended to Port Arthur and was in operation. The semaphore telegraph system was capable of transmitting a message from Port Arthur in 15 minutes. The southern Tasmanian semaphore system was the largest semaphore system in Australia, using what was then the most state-of-the-art long distance communication technology in the world.

Maritime Museum Tasmania is pleased to commence this latest project to interpret and make the Semaphore Cottage more accessible to the community again. The Museum greatly appreciates the support of the Hobart City Council in this new initiative which also honours the foresight of the Shiplovers' Society.