Friends of TMAG, GPO Box 1164, Hobart (2026)

02/06/2026

END OF FINANCIAL YEAR DONATIONS WELCOME

Want to help keep the wonder of TMAG growing?

A donation to the Friends of TMAG is a simple and meaningful way to support the museum and gallery we all love. Donations help fund valuable projects and purchases for TMAG, and every gift, whether big or small, makes a difference.

If TMAG has ever sparked your curiosity, inspired you, or simply given you a great day out, we’d be delighted to have your support.

Donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for taxation purposes.

In the past three years, the Friends have provided funds to TMAG for the taxidermy of a cassowary, purchase of a camera for the conservation team, audio equipment, and 3D scanning of fossils for paleontological research. We have also made a substantial contribution towards the publication of Furnishing Van Diemen's Land: Tasmanian furniture of the early colonial period 1803–1870 (out in late June!).

MAKE A DONATION TO THE FRIENDS

https://friendsoftmag.org.au/Donations

02/06/2026

END OF FINANCIAL YEAR DONATIONS WELCOME

Want to help keep the wonder of TMAG growing?

A donation to the Friends of TMAG is a simple and meaningful way to support the museum and gallery we all love. Donations help fund valuable projects and purchases for TMAG, and every gift, whether big or small, makes a difference.

If TMAG has ever sparked your curiosity, inspired you, or simply given you a great day out, we’d be delighted to have your support.

Donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for taxation purposes.

In the past three years, the Friends have provided funds to TMAG for the taxidermy of a cassowary, purchase of a camera for the conservation team, audio equipment, and 3D scanning of fossils for paleontological research. We have also made a substantial contribution towards the publication of Furnishing Van Diemen's Land: Tasmanian furniture of the early colonial period 1803–1870 (out in late June!).

MAKE A DONATION TO THE FRIENDS

https://friendsoftmag.org.au/Donations

02/06/2026

Special Friends fundraising event in July: QUIZ NIGHT!
Thursday 9 July, 6pm
Central Gallery

A lot of material that staff at TMAG put together for the recent television program didn’t make it onto the screen, so they’d like to test our knowledge of the museum and art gallery’s collection with a quiz tailored to our more discerning audience.

Quizmasters will be Cultural Heritage team members Dr Jody Steele and Isobel Andrewartha, and with those two in charge we will have a lot of fun — and learn a lot!

We will be seated at tables of 6 but you don’t need to make up a table to come along. Book for yourself and advise us by email if you’d like to make up a group with others. You are welcome to invite non-member friends to come along.

The ticket price will include food and drinks — and there will be prizes for winners!

More details and bookings next week.

29/05/2026

To celebrate the upcoming opening of major exhibition ‘Becoming Modern: Mid-century Australian Art’ we invite you to join us on Saturday 30 May | 11:00 am: TMAG Head of Art and exhibition curator, Dr David Ashley Kerr will present a guided walk-through of ‘Becoming Modern’ highlighting key themes and narratives. Join Ash to explore iconic Australian modernists and lesser-known works featured in the exhibition.

Event is free and no bookings required.

✨ Becoming Modern continues until 26 September 2027 at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Dunn Place. Free entry.

25/05/2026

LAST WEEK'S FRIENDS EVENT

Last week Isobel Andrewartha, TMAG Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage, talked about her research into the bid by George Adams to circumvent the Federal Government's ban on using the post for his Tattersall's sweepstakes business. It's a fascinating story and just goes to prove the old adage: 'follow the money'.

25/05/2026

SAVE THE DATES

Here are some dates to save:

Derwent Lees: a talk by Professor Peter Davies
Thursday 23 July, 5.30pm Central Gallery, TMAG

Floor talk by Elizabete Ozola, TMAG Contemporary Migrant Experiences Project Officer
Wednesday 19 August, 10.30am Central Gallery, TMAG

Friends AGM with special guest Eleanor Cave, Deputy Director Research and Collections
Monday 28 September, 10.30am Central Gallery, TMAG

Botanical adventures with Herbarium staff
Tuesday 6 October, 10.30am Waterworks Reserve, Ridgeway

Floor talk by Dr Jody Steele, TMAG Head of Cultural Heritage
Thursday 15 October, 10.30am Central Gallery, TMAG

Christmas at Narryna
Thursday 26 November, 5pm Narryna, Battery Point

More information and registrations closer to the events.

25/05/2026

Donations welcome!

Want to help keep the wonder of TMAG growing?

A donation to the Friends of TMAG is a simple and meaningful way to support the museum and gallery we all love. Donations help fund valuable projects and purchases for TMAG, and every gift, whether big or small, makes a difference.

If TMAG has ever sparked your curiosity, inspired you, or simply given you a great day out, we’d be delighted to have your support.

Donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt for taxation purposes.

In the past three years, the Friends have provided funds to TMAG for the taxidermy of a cassowary, purchase of a camera for the conservation team, audio equipment, and 3D scanning of fossils for paleontological research. We have also made a substantial contribution towards the publication of Furnishing Van Diemen's Land: Tasmanian furniture of the early colonial period 1803–1870 (out in late June!).

MAKE A DONATION TO THE FRIENDS

https://friendsoftmag.org.au/Donations

19/05/2026

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

Monday 25 May, 10.30am
State Library and Archives of Tasmania, Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, Ground Floor, 91 Murray Street

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.

BOOK FOR SEMAPHORE SCORE

https://friendsoftmag.org.au/event-6675402

11/05/2026

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. For organisational purposes, please let us know you are coming by clicking on the button below.

BOOK FOR FOILING THE FED

Below: Tattersalls’ sweep application forms, 1899. TMAG Collection, R2013.13.50.46.
Bottom left: Cartoon of George Adams by Tom Midwood, c1902. TMAG Collection, Q2013.45.1.20.
Bottom right: Isobel Andrewartha, TMAG Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage

11/05/2026

Eileen Brooker
Public talk by Sue Abdullah

Friday 29 May, 11am
Central Gallery

Eileen Brooker was a significant figure in the development of modernist art in Tasmania. Brooker was a founder and first president of the Tasmanian Potters Society — now called the Tasmanian Ceramics Association — and is celebrated for her ground-breaking creativity, particularly her early use of stoneware in Tasmania.

Sue Abdullah is the author of the author of People, Pottery & Painting: Life Stories of Eileen Brooker, and is a lifelong friend of Eileen’s. In this talk Sue will discuss how Eileen created a sense of the modern in her early work as well as trace the people and influences which strengthened her modern approach to art, lifestyle and attitudes continuing into her later years.

This public talk is part of the public program for Becoming Modern, a new exhibition featuring mid-20th century artworks from the TMAG collection, opening to the public on Friday May 29.

This is a FREE talk and no bookings are required.

Below: A young Eileen Brooker painting and likely posing for local media (Mercury, Brooker family collection)

Friends of TMAG

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