Friends of the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery upcoming events

Foiling the Fed (20 May 2026)

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:30:00 GMT

Foiling the Fed: Tattersall’s early postal sweepstakes and circumventing federal law

Wednesday 20 May, 10.30am

Central Gallery, TMAG

George Adams founded the Tattersall’s lottery company in 1881 to sell sweepstake tickets on horseraces. But by 1902 he found his postal sweepstakes banned by the newly formed Federal Government. Adams needed a way to receive post to his Hobart-based company, and he needed it fast. In an act of early crowdsourcing he offered a £1000 reward for a scheme to circumvent the 1902 postal ban. TMAG holds a collection of more than 200 letters written to Adams between February and May 1902 suggesting various schemes. Some are clever, some are harebrained, some are deeply self-serving, and all the letters are a window into how people lived in 1902.

Isobel Andrewartha, TMAG Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage, has been digitising, transcribing, and researching this collection of letters to better understand the 1902 ban and George Adams’s response. In this talk she will plot the lay of the land leading up to the ban as well as discuss her research into this ‘divergent scheme’ collection and what it can tell us about life in 1902.

This is a FREE event and you are welcome to bring non-member friends.

Semaphore Score (25 May 2026)

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:30:00 GMT

Semaphore Score

Can you rewrite a 19th-century military language as messages of love?

Semaphore Score is the work of State Library and Archives’ inaugural Creative Fellow, Margaret Woodward. This exhibition is inspired by one important artefact found during her research at State Library and Archives Tasmania, the 1868 Tasman Peninsula – Semaphore Code Dictionary.

In response, Margaret has created a contemporary and revised semaphore code book for Lutruwita/Tasmania, and a series of naturally dyed semaphore flags. The code book includes language that addresses climate and environmental damage as well as expressions of intimacy and care. Her new codes are designed so they can be used flexibly. They can be used as a call to action, an instruction, a plea, a poem, a love letter or a warning.

In this artist talk, Margaret will share insights into the research, production and performance of the Semaphore Score exhibition. At the conclusion of the talk you are invited to compose messages which Margaret will decipher and upload onto the digital web log that is accumulating over the duration of the exhibition.

This is a FREE event. Numbers are strictly limited due to space considerations, so it is open to Friends members only.