Flag Poles                                                                                                                                         
Ned hand shaped this flag pole in 1997.
It is from a 16 m pole.


A brief History of the Mt. Nelson Signal  Station

The establishment of the Signal Station at Mt. Nelson was ordered by General Macquarie in 1811 during his tour of Van Diemen's Land. He specified that the station was to consist of a mast and barracks for a corporal's Guard. Signalling was to be undertaken  by flags.  A painting  was done of the Station in circa 1823 which shows a two piece mast with a cross spar. Around 1829 a two armed semaphore was established at the station which was replaced in circa 1831 by a three armed semaphore capable of dealing with 666 code signals.  In 1836 the station was linked into the Peninsula system. This tie with a short cessation, was to continue till 1877. In 1838 the six armed semaphore was introduced which allowed over 900,000 separate signals. By 1860 the Mt. Nelson Semaphore had grown into a two tiered structure with the top six arm semaphore dealing with the Port Arthur traffic whilst  the lower dealt with the maritine traffic into Hobart.
It was also the site for other advances in communication with the establishment of an electric telegraph in 1858.  On the abandonment of Port Arthur in 1877 the semaphore mast was reduced by the removal of the top half. It was to continue in this form until around the 1880's when the semaphore was removed and a flag staff put in its place. By 1890 the flag staff was already so rotten that its removal was necessitated and sometime before 1892 a two sectioned signal mast was established. This mast seems to have survived until 1933 and does not appear to have had any spars. In 1933 this mast was replaced and some time after 1953 a cross spar and gaff was added. These additions made it approximate the mast that appeared in the 1823 painting. Sometime after 1953 the top mast was replaced or at least altered. This mast survived up to 1997 when its removal was necessitated by decay. Ned made and replaced the new flag pole which he hand shaped from a 16 metre pole.

This  flag pole has been  erected at Customs House in Hobart in 2007. (photo below)

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