The following messages have been composed by audiences visiting Margaret Woodward’s exhibition Semaphore Score at the Allport Library & Museum of Fine Arts, Nipaluna/ Hobart, 2026. The words and phrases each user selected were sourced from artist Margaret Woodward’s semaphore-score-code-book-2026.pdf. From this book, users select a series of numbers (with corresponding language) to send a message via a system of hand-dyed semaphore flags. You can access all credits, references, reading and endnotes related to this language by clicking the link above to download a digital edition of the book.
LOG
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Saturday 11 April, 2026
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11 12 14 3843 2158 1717 3361 1587
A Boat. A cloud in the shape of a daughter who won’t return, whose native tongue it is not possible to find. The intention of this message is, I remember you.
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Sunday 05 April, 2026
—
778 1646 1923 1627 3321 2520
Death inevitable. Live in the present.
1602 1517 1566 1562 1874 3023 3058 1114
I miss you Hobart /Nipaluna. I am sorry I left so soon. Farewell.
1592 4008 3989 2329 2212 1714 2010 1243
I speak to you from the future. Your story is heard. Yesterday, overwhelmed by fumes and smoke, not knowing by almost forgetting is in danger of extinction. Mangana sighted, good luck, from where I sit.
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Saturday 28 March, 2026
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07 31 108 182 247 01 3015 36
Ngamala ngayapi-nanya/ Where were you born? A sheet of paper. Against rain the clouds increase. Appearance atonal. Ya Pulingina / milaythina Palawa / Hello, welcome to/ Palawa Country. Smitten, a swimmer rounds the buoy.
1342 1871 2281 3876 1627 260 199 1900
Golden leaves on the wind in Autumn are liminal.
2841 2930 2393 2945 2955
Safely shall I parti-coloured shimmer shore.
2396 14 40 2169 1505 1488 880
Particular care to be taken of a daughter who won’t return, needing her heart. Do you have anything important to tell?
141 3273 1172 1240 2971 2269 2035 1566
Always the plovers take flight from the sight of me. I am sorry.
26 2982 545 3427 3557
A man is supposed to be simply centre of gravity. Truth telling.
2007 260 1603 913 1000 34 2115 2202
Mangana heard nearby, qualified we trust, drought ending. Movement North Eastwardly.
3318 1194 2936 3447 3896 1618 211 3318
Thanks for sharing this wonderful art. Thanks.
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Monday 23 March, 2026
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1076 243 1796
Expecting good news at the karaoke.
665 3635 3162 3231 2316 1926 3630 1767
Consequences unusual strike sympathy. Out of touch living in exile until judgement.
3297 4007
Tell your story
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Monday 16 March, 2026
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3393 3165 3393 3166 3393 3676
The Salmon Commission struck by a heavy squall. The Salmon Commission struck by lightning. The Salmon Commission very suspicious.
3413 63 12 1525 1483 1522 3588 3606
The telepathy of archives accounts. A cloud in the shape of a holocene heals. Holding pattern under uninterrupted time.
140
Always on the periphery
142 385 1386 1535 2154 2890 3392
Always the weather. Black mirror. Grey saltbush. Hops. Native pepper. Seasonal. The romance of nomenclature.
1952 1711 1048
Love. Flathead. Everything.
1366 2698 1640 1516 1583 1595 1801 1537
Gratitude. Regretful Indigenous Histories. I hear you, I was born in Country not here. Keep up heart love. Hopeful.
4001 3747 2422 3494 1757
You need not waste pepper to knit together jellyfish.
3418 484 3163 3876 2269 3584 2903 2876
The truth has been erased by the strongest winds of uncertainty. Semaphore Score.
481 199 3172 157 660 157 2099 3172
Butterflies are stupid and confident and more stupid.
1965 2840 1722 1528 1647 2410 2538 1379
Lutruwita / Tasmania. Safe haven island. Infinite, profound green.
2107 1711 10 2936
Mothering is a sharing.
1514 1952 3025 3761 1950 1107 1943
His love soaked to the skin. We lost our way falling, longing.
3761 1896 980 2309 1627 3447 1844
We like Elizabeth Street. Others in this land.
1724 119 342 235 3230 1540
It all began at hospital.
37 73 3658 3917 1212 1308
A tall dead tree of enormous bulk across variable weather would not peck peck peck genocide.
1586 1953 3130 3847
I read you love letters steeped in blood. Why are you full of fear?
3770 1550 1530 1531 1926 3448 3449 3781
We are rearranged. How much pressure to sustain? Homecoming, homesickness, living in exile. This is the work. This is who we are. We owe each other everything.
2107 774 02 3059
Mother. Daughter. Takara langana kitina/milaythina nika . Walk softly /on this Country. Sorry.
501 511
Calm cannot be trusted.
3023 4073 2269 3992 4074
So proud of you Margaret. Love Rosie.
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Saturday 14 March, 2026
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140 322 3427 2270 1112 625 446 14
Always on the periphery because you are full of fear. There were no survivors of the family tree. Coming home to myself. Breathing life back in. A Daughter who won’t return.
1565 1717 3504 3876 1597 2283 3883 1437
I am listening to you. Is it not possible to find, to see wind. I will once Winter has arrived.
1563 1365 3321 1890 3376 347 365
I am grateful for the life. The past is not a place to dwell. Believe beyond possibility.
3761 3593 3362 2057 1953
We understand the language of flowers messaging love letters.
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Friday 13 March, 2026
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3763 3817 505 1562 682
I am slowly unravelling. What can I control?
2078 2131 3053 1923 1627 2046
Missing my son living in Melbourne /Naarm.
1562 2146 1627 2131 1298 2281 958 2955
I have native animals in my garden on the Eastern shore.
629 670 1392 1369 3630 2864 1437
Communicating constellations. Ground truthing gravity until satellite has arrived.
2787 2898 1757 235 3321 1760
Rose with the break of day seeing jellyfish at the jetty.
1923 3887 3584 478 2208 1627 3733
Living with uncertainty but not in waiting.
2131 1119 3369 3442 112 1243 1904 376
My Father. The memory of the world. Things that were forgotten agree. From where I sit line of sight clear. Birth.
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Friday 27th February, 2026
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14 21 13 24
A Daughter who won’t return. A great number of sea birds about the ship. A cloud shaped like a bird. A light coat of mutton bird fat.
1585 1587 3772 4064
I love you. I remember you. We are sorry for this mess. Unease.
1585 1250 1869 1771
I love you fugitive leather junk.
585 3430 3765 2788 1714 1715 3405
Climate alarm. There is not time for complacency. We are at a tipping point. Rose with the wattle bird is in danger of extinction. Is it possible that the sweetness of the leaving?
1917 2050 3264 3369 34511916 3556
Listening to ancestors. Memory is only ever partial .Story telling. The memory of the world. This language is in every stone. Listening truthfully.
14 1581 1493 3375 3377 3405
A Daughter who won’t return. I have become untethered. Heat haze of summer. The past is a presence. The past is present. The sweetness of the leaving.
1585 1587 1327 1115 650 3795 2770 3471
I love you I remember you. Glimmer of hope. Farewell beloved. Concentrations of kindness. Weather will most probably follow the entrance of the Moon into any of her quarters. Rising and setting of celestial objects. Time is of the essence.
129 1905 1587 602
Almond brown. Line of sight obscured. I remember you. Cumulus.
17 3404 4000 225 3382 3442
A fire or smoke is observed. The sun is invisible. You must not. Asleep.
794 1073 1114 3369 3419 3382 3442 3519
Deep in winter sleep. Expected to recover. Farewell. The memory of the world. The truth is hidden. The presence of the past. Things that were forgotten. Too hazy to signalise.
3691 3321 2402 3318 1194 2131 153
Visiting the past. Thankful for my ancestors.
19 1166 1242
A flotilla of seagulls. Flags learning to flutter. From what quarter is the wind?
3282 3318 3992 4069 3321 4070
Tasmania / Lutruwita. Thank you. The marathon was touching.
—
Wednesday 25th February, 2026
—
1582 3646 1121 1048 1802 3450 3449
I have something important to say. Use your instinct. Fathom everything. Keep up your courage. This land was never ceded. This is who we are.
1569 3187 199 3992 3172 1765
I ask you sugar. Are you stupidly joyful?
1361 1049 3014 987 1565 2716 3016 1952
Grandmothers everywhere smelt embers. I am listening to you. Reminded smoky love.
195 212 2939 394 3452 3763 1813
Approach artfully. She is from Blackmans Bay. This recipe has been extensively used and is reliable. We are slowly unravelling. Kindred spirits.
1563 1430 3480 10 1361
I am happy to be a grandmother.
1582 1121 1802 3450 3646 1048
I have something important to say. Fathom. Keep up your courage. This land was never ceded. Use your instinct. Everything
1115 2874 2930 535 499 3451
Farewell beloved school of fish. Shall I cast off? Call for action. This language is in every stone.
408 509 510 3182 3318 1194 874 3447
Blowing very hard. Candles cannot succeed. Thankful for doing this.
319 219 3771 3758 3450
Beaches as the crow flies. We are sorry. Water shimmer. This land was never ceded.
3418 3430 3765 826 588 2186 3062 3849
The truth has been erased. There is not time for complacency. We are at a tipping point. Did they apologise for climate crisis? No. Sound the alarm. Why has the signal not been made?
3996 3225 3750 1239 1268 3852 3448 600
You can smell the salt. Swollen water from stress of weather. Futile. Wild. This is the work. Clouds that are long and scattered having a greenish cast always show rain.
231 3442 2775 1120 1793 4063 3555 2735
Astronomical things that were forgotten. Rivers. Father’s father’s father’s mother. Kangaroo Point. Occurs in parties during winter. Trust. Resilience.
02 3045 3462 08 09
Takara langana kitina/ milaythina nika. Walk softly /on this Country. Something is missing. Thylacine.
Tapilti nayri /milaythina-nanya. Travel safely back to your Country.
Nayri nina-tu /takara langana kitina. Thank you for walking gently on Country.
1077 1043 1010
Expecting good weather. Evening England.
1587 3828 3992 3172
I remember you. When. You. Stupid.