Thomas Nevin's hand-coloured convict photographs

Professional photographers in the mid 19th century experimented with colouring photographs, sometimes to the displeasure of their regular clientele. Mrs Esther Mather expressed a distaste for the colouring of a portrait taken of her brother ca 1865 at SMITH'S, and it was Robert Smith who joined Thomas Nevin soon afterwards at the City Photographic Establishment, forming the business partnership "Nevin & Smith". See for example, their portrait of Nevin's fiancee Rachel Elizabeth Day, ca 1870. Thomas Nevin’s family cartes of his sister Mary Anne Nevin, later portraits of his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day, and his self-portrait, have survived in excellent condition in the Nevin family’s collections. They are all hand coloured, and so are several included on this site from private collections.

Nevin's reputation as a photographer and colorist or "photographic artist" was so well established that it warranted a mention in a report appearing in The Mercury, December 4th, 1880.

"ORNAMENTS of DIFFERENT COLOURS ..."

On the evening of December 3rd, 1880, Thomas Nevin was apprehended by two policemen who were chasing a man pretending to be ghost. Nevin was detained by police because he was (a) in the close vicinity of the man when the incident occurred, and (b) he was allegedly intoxicated while still on duty as keeper of the Hobart Town Hall. Although not charged with the offence of acting in concert with the “ghost”, he was dismissed from his position of Town Hall keeper for being intoxicated while on duty. The Mercury next day reported the court proceedings, which began with Nevin’s defense by the Mayor:

By the MAYOR: … It was not true that between the hours of 10 and 11 o’clock on Thursday night, Constables Oakes and Priest took witness home in a state of intoxication. Witness had a photographic apparatus and chemicals in his possession. He had not made any ornaments of different colours for any one lately. He was not at any time on Thursday night under the influence of liquor. He did not think it was right to leave the Town Hall for so many hours as he had. He considered, however, that when he heard the constables’ whistle he was justified in going to render them assistance.

The reader of the report learns that the “witness” - Nevin - who had spent the evening with photographer and friend Henry Hall Baily was on his way home to the Hobart Town Hall in the possession of photographic equipment and chemicals. This account clearly indicates that Nevin was still engaged in professional photographic practice with commercial photographer H. H. Baily in 1880 while duty-bound by his contract to render police any assistance.

Additional details in his defense underscore his reputation for producing coloured photographs - “ornaments of different colours” - although not for “anyone” lately. What might this mean? It most likely refers to these two prisoners and their ID photographs taken by Nevin during the first phase of his commission to provide criminal identification photographs for the Municipal Police Office, located at the Hobart Town Hall. His police work from 1873 had extended from the prison at Port Arthur and Hobart Gaol to rendering assistance to the New Town Territorial Police which was noted in the police gazettes.

The detaining detective Connor did not arrest Nevin that night in December 1880 because he was well-known to him, as Connor states in the account, as  was Constable John Nevin, Thomas' younger brother, who was Thomas' photographic assistant at the Hobart Gaol. The Nevin brothers enjoyed a privileged relation with the former Attorney General Giblin and then Premier, their family solicitor since 1868, whose contractual arrangements gave Nevin the commission of prisons photographer at the Port Arthur prison and Hobart Gaol from 1871 to the mid 1880s. Nevin’s coloured carte of W.R. Giblin is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania.

JOB SMITH aka WILLIAM CAMPBELL



NLA Collection:
nla.pic-vn4270353

The fate of Job Smith aka William Campbell (or Brodie) was a cause celebre for opponents of capital punishment in the press when Job Smith was hanged for rape in June 1875. Nevin had travelled with William Campbell aka Job Smith back to Port Arthur a year earlier, in May 1874, during Dr Coverdale's tenure as Commandant, and would have been responsible for taking Smith's photograph prior to leaving Hobart. Smith was not considered physically dangerous. He had been sentenced to 8 years, free in servitude, on 19th March 1872 for forgery. Smith's next sentence of death for rape in 1875 must have come as a shock to Nevin.

The convict in the image identified as William Campbell in this carte from the NLA Collection of portraits by Nevin is the same convict hanged as Job Smith at the Hobart Gaol for rape in May 1875. The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery holds an identical image of this convict, with this simple note written on the verso:

Job Smith Alias Campbell Alias Boodle

See this entry for an extended account of Job Smith's execution and the newspaper reports of the day.

JOHNSTONE aka BRAMALL aka TAYLOR



NLA Catalogue
nla.pic-vn4270353

In the carte of Job Smith aka William Campbell (top), Nevin has coloured the neckerchief blue to reflect reality, as in this example of a typical neckerchief worn by convicts (QVMAG Collection):



In the carte of Walter Johnson aka Bramall (sic, below), however, there IS no neckerchief. He is not wearing one at all underneath his collar, so the blueish colouring we can see is actually just paint patterned in squares to look like the standard issue neckerchief. This is a telling detail, and would have been added by Nevin to the print he made of an earlier photograph he took of Bramall to underscore the fact that the man was in effect a prisoner who had asbconded in prison clothing. The eyes of this man have intense blue colouring as well. The reason for the colour was not to render a pretty picture; it was to aid the public's recognition of him. The carte would have been displayed at the Town Hall Police Office, and most likely exhibited in Nevin's studio window at 140 Elizabeth St, Hobart Town. It would have been available to the public, on sale, since Johnstone alias Bramall alias Taylor absconded from the Cascades area of Hobart on June 6th, 1874, and appears to have succeeded in remaining at large, as his recapture was not recorded during 1875.

This notice appeared in the police gazette:



Source: Tasmania Reports on Crime for Police Information Feb 6, 1874

There is a lot of detail in the written description concerning colour: sallow complexion, light brown hair, light brown eyebrows, large blue eyes, grey prison clothing. Nevin's colouring has attempted to match the verbal description. The question then arises: who wrote the description in the police gazette of February 6th, 1874? In all probability it was the photographer, Thomas Nevin, as no one other than the photographer would have noticed such detail and attempted to render it visually.

So, it was with these two prisoner cartes in mind when Nevin's defense by the Mayor stated - He had not made any ornaments of different colours for any one lately... He was not at any time on Thursday night under the influence of liquor.

The statement is not without derision towards a commercial photographer employed as a police photographer, and Nevin was both, who prettied up criminals' mugshots with artistic colour and used the term "artist" in the wording "T. J. Nevin Photographic Artist" on his studio stamp bearing the government insignia. Again, these are resonances of a social prejudice about photographers, and against the use of colour which Mrs Mather expressed in the 1860s.

NLA's POOR DIGITISATION

The National Library of Australia recently digitised both cartes, which are listed there in Thomas Nevin's file as hand-coloured photographs. However, the recent digitisation of these two, and of fifty or more of their total collection of 84 photographs of Tasmanian prisoners is of very poor quality. Compare the auto-adjustment made here that was necessary to bring out the colouring with their originals at NLA (click on name below image). The original twenty-three convicts' photographs which the NLA digitised and attributed solely to Thomas Nevin in November 2000 were of exceptionally good quality. The NLA has shown poor judgment as well in resurrecting the A.H. Boyd misattribution in the form of a catalogue entry accompanying these convicts' photographs with reference to a worthless, sycophantic and intellectually dishonest "essay" by a former employee of the PAHSMA.

These two are supposedly inscribed on verso "Taken at Port Arthur, 1874 which is incorrect: all such cartes transcribed verso with this handwritten date is just an effect of a batch edit for commercial purposes by Beattie in 1916, whose use of the date and the name "Port Arthur" was intended to attract the tourist, or by archivists at the source of the photographs, the QVMAG, in 1958 and 1982-85.



Two hand coloured cartes of convicts by Thomas Nevin, NLA Collection, auto colour corrected.

Left: nla.pic-vn4270353 (incorrect information)
William Campbell, per S. [Sir] R. [Robert] Peel, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture] 1874.
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen, hand col. ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.

Right: nla.pic-vn4270027 (incorrect information)
Walter Johnson, alias Henry Bramall, per Asiatic, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]1874
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cms

The originals ...



RELATED POSTS main weblog

Tasmanian Studios to 1900

PHOTOGRAPHERS working in TASMANIA 1860s-1900s




HOBART, LAUNCESTON & REGIONAL PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIOS

ABBOTT, Alfred. Amateur. Hobart. 1859-1863

ABBOTT, Charles (brother). Amateur. Hobart. 1857-1859.

AIKENHEAD, William. Launceston. Amateur 1860-1890.

ALLPORT, Morton. Amateur. Holbrook Place 1859-1866.

AMERICAN STUDIO CO. Collins St. 1880; Allen & Gove.

ANSON, Joshua at H.H.BAILY, 1872-1877.

ANSON Bros; 132 Liverpool St. 1878-1880; 36 Elizabeth St. 1880-1887; 52 Elizabeth St. 1887-9; 129 Elizabeth St.1894-95.

BAILY, H.H. (Henry Hall).Elizabeth St. 1865-1866; 94 Elizabeth St. 1866-1881; 88 Liverpool St. 1888-1897.

BANKS, Samuel, Dundas, 1900.

BARNICOAT, Herbert S. 90 Warwick St. ALEXANDRIA Studio 1887.

BARNETT BIGGS, Alfred. Campbell Town. 1860.

BENNETT, Clay. Launceston. Travelling, 1857-1858.

BEATTIE, John Watt. Amateur 1879. At ANSON Bros Elizabeth ST. 1882-1891. At 52 Elizabeth St. 1891-1900.
ANSON Bros. studio proprietor. Official government photographer 1896 - .

BISHOP OSBORNE, John. 76 Murray St. 1879-93.

BOCK, Thomas. 22 Campbell St. 1848-1855.

BOCK, Alfred. 46 Campbell St. 1855; 78 Liverpool St. 1855 - late DURYEA & McDONALD; 18 Macquarie St. 1857; City Photographic Establishment 1858-1867; 138 Elizabeth St. 1859; Gippsland 1867; Sale, Victoria 1873.

BRANSGROVE, Alfred S. Cutter St. Queenstown, 1897-1900. Lyell Studios, Burnie, 1900.

BROWN & MILLER, 195 Charles St. Launceston. ca. 1897-98.

BROWNE, Thomas. 52 Liverpool St. 1846; 31 Macquarie St. 1848-1853.

BULL, Knud. Hobart 1856.

BURROWS, A.E. (brother of W.H. Carl Burrows) Brisbane St. Launceston, ca. 1885-1888.

BURROWS, W.H. Carl. 76 Murray St. 1877-78 at WHERRETT's; Melbourne and Sydney Portrait Rooms, Launceston 1878-1895.

BUTCHER & HENRY, Launceston 1861.

BUTTON, Henry. Amateur. Nephew of Edward Clarke. Launceston. 1860-1868.

CAWSTON, William. St. John's St. Launceston. 1860-1866 and 1881.

CAWSTON & SONS, St John St. Launceston 1888-1891.

CHERRY, George. Hobart c. 1852; 5 Macquarie St. 1854-1855; 43 Macquarie St. 1855-1861;
1 Elizabeth St. 1861-1864; 94 Liverpool St. 1864-1866; 80 Liverpool St. 1866-1867; Hobart 1868.

CHESTER, Frank. Travelling tintype photographer, North West Tasmania.

CITY PHOTOGRAPHIC ESTABLISHMENT, T. Nevin, late A. Bock, 140 Elizabeth St. 1867-1876;

CLAPHAM & CLEVERTON, T.A.. Kings Building, Launceston, 1857.

CLARKE, Dr. Edward. Amateur, Launceston 1854-1858.

CLIFFORD, Samuel. 132 Liverpool St. c 1859-1878.

CLIFFORD & NEVIN, Hobart Town 1860s-1870s.

COTSWORTH, Haldane. Upper Argyle St. 1870s-90. Wilson, Cotsworth & co. 1880s.

DALTON. George St. Launceston, 1860-62.

DART, Harry. Harrington St. Hobart. Dart & Rollings, 1900.

DAVIDSON, Mrs Letitia. Murray St. Hobart 1862-1866; 75 Collins St.Melbourne 1869-1870.

DE BRETT STUDIO, Launceston, Tas. ca. 1896.

DIAMOND CAMEO PORTRAITS, Quadrant, Launceston. William Paul Dowling, cdv's.

DICKERSON, Walter.Murray St. 1855; Calotype Gallery 1855; SHARP & DICKERSON 1855.

DOWLING Bros. travelling 1860-1861.Westbury, Deloraine, Carrick 1860. Torquay, Stanley 1861.

DOWLING, Matthew P. 12 Elizabeth St. 1864; 39 Liverpool St. 1864-1867.

DOWLING, William P. George St. Launceston; Kings Building, Brisbane St., Launceston 1859-1860s (brothers).

DUFF, Frank Gee, 195 Charles St. Launceston, 1888-91.

DUVAL & CO. 11 Quadrant, Launceston. 1888-1900. With A.E. Burrows.

ELITE STUDIOS, Launceston, 1890-1894. See Richard Nicholas, with Mrs R.Nicholas.

FAIRHALL, Alfred. Queenstown 1896; 1898-1900.

FEREDAY, Rev. John. Amateur. George Town, 1862-1871.

FERRIS, Thomas D. Launceston 1855.

FINLAYSON, Miss Elizabeth. Devonport, 1898-1900. At ARSLONGA Studios.

FLAVELLE, John. Assistant at G.B.GOODMAN's, St John's St. Launceston. 1842-1844.

FLEGITAUB, Lewis. Queenstown, 1900.

FOOT, Fred R. Lefroy, Tas. 1896.

FRITH, Henry Albert. Campbell Town, Carrick, Stanley, Longford, Deloraine 1857-58; Travelling FRITH & Co. 1858;
Brisbane St. Launceston 1858-1859; Hobart 1859; Sydney 1859; Launceston 1860-1861; Hobart 1862-1867.

FRITH BROS. 19 Murray St. 1857-1865. Brisbane St. Launceston 1859-1861; Charles St. Launceston 1862.

FRITH, Frederick. Liverpool St. 1855; 110 Collins St. 1855. At SHARP & FRITH, 8 Victoria St. Hobart 1856; 19 Murray St. 1857-1865.

GRITTEN, Henry. Campbell Town 1860; Launceston c 1870s.

HALL & FAIRHALL, Queenstown, 1896.

HARTNETT, Queenstown 1898-1900.

HAVENHAND, A. W. Latrobe, 1896-1900.

HOLSTZ, Pierre. Tourist from France, Brisbane St. Launceston, 1858-59.

HUSBAND, H. Murray St. 1853.

IBSEN, Alfred. Warwick St. 1854. BELLEVUE PHOTOGRAPHIC ATELIER.

KILBURN, Douglas T. Hobart 1852-1853.

KING, Thomas Fleet. Stanley 1866-1880.

KONRAD, Louis. 60 Cameron St. Launceston, 1896-1905.

LATROBE PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIOS, Latrobe 1887-97. Phillip James Marchant.

LEONARD, Frank. 19 Elizabeth St. 1866.

LILLEY, Victor. Queenstown 1896-1900; Zeehan 1898-1900.

LONDON PORTRAIT GALLERY, St. John St. Launceston. P.L. REID.1870-78.

McDONALD, Albert. 121 St. John St. Launceston, 1888-91.

McDONALD, Alexander. Travelling, Launceston, 1855.

McGUFFIE, HARCOURT & CO. Richard McGuffie 1880, at C. Wherrett's ALBA STUDIOS 1897-1900.

MARCHANT, Phillip John. Latrobe Photographic Studios, 1887-97.

MELBOURNE PORTRAIT ROOMS, 90 Brisbane St, Launceston, 1878-95. With W.H. Carl Burrows.

MELBOURNE & SYDNEY PORTRAIT ROOMS, 76 Murray St. 1878 - W.H. BURROWS.

MILLS, John. Zeehan, Tas. 1896-1900.

MOORE, R. J. Zeehan, 1892-97.

MOORE, William. Launceston, 1882.

NEVIN, William John (Jack), brother of Thomas J. Nevin. Prison photographer, H.M.Gaol, Hobart: 1877-1891

NEVIN, Thomas J. City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. 1865-1876;

NEVIN, Thos. New Town, 1860s - 1884. T.J. Nevin, City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. 1865-1876;

Clifford & Nevin, Hobart Town 1860s-1870s.

NEVIN & SMITH, Thomas Nevin, also known as Thos. Nevin and T.J. Nevin, with Robert Smith 140 Elizabeth St; 1865-1868;

NICHOLAS, Collam. 141A Brisbane St. Launceston, brother of Richard Nicholas, 1896-1900.

NICHOLAS, Richard. 74 St. John St. Launceston. ELITE STUDIOS, 1896-97.

NICHOLAS, Mrs R. J. 69 Brisbane St Launceston. ELITE STUDIOS. 1896-7.

NIXON, Bishop Francis Russell. Amateur, 1858-1860.

OXLEY, George W. Back Creek, Tas. 1861.

PADMAN, G. Latrobe, 1878-1880, late P.L. Reid

PATERSON, F.J. 53 Argyle St. 1864-1869.

PAUL, George. Dundas, 1892-1900.

PIGUENIT, William C. Amateur 1870-75 (also a painter)

POUSTY, William. 63 Brisbane St. Launceston 1891; Queenstown 1899, Burnie 1890-91.

RAY, Alfred. Gleadow St. nveresk, Launceston, 1896.

REID, P. L. & Co. Messrs. LONDON PORTRAIT GALLERY, Oatlands, Ross, Campbell Town. Travelling 1865-1866.

REID, Peter Laurie & Co. Elizabeth St. 1864. Partner of M.P. DOWLING, 172 Elizabeth St. 1864. St. John St. Launceston ca. 1870; Latrobe 1878.

RIISE, Harold. Macquarie St. 1880.

RIISE & BARNETT, Macquarie St. 1880-1882.

SALE, J. T. Launceston, amateur. 1865.

SAN FRANCISCO PORTRAIT PARLORS, Quadrant, Launceston (Duval & Co.) 1888-1900.

SARGEANT, Albert. Elite Studio, 61 George St. Launceston. 1899-1900.

SHARP, John Mathieson. 11 Collins St. 1856-1858. MATHUSON's (or Mathieson?) Chromatype Gallery.

SHERWIN, H. Queenstown, VITA STUDIO, 1898-1900.

SOMMERS, J.C. 39 Liverpool St. 1862-1864.

SOURMAN, L. (Sauerman?) Launceston, Travelling. 1853-4.

SPURLING, Stephen I. Amateur, Hobart 1856-75: 34 Brisbane St; 1857-59; 134 Liverpool St 1857-59; 62 Liverpool St 1860-61; 76 Murray St 1865-75.

SPURLING, Stephen II. early 1870s-75 worked in father's business at 76 Murray St. St. John St. Launceston, 1873-78. 83 Brisbane St. Launceston, 1878-1900.

SPURLING STUDIOS 93 Brisbane St 1902-24

SPURLING, Stephen III. (son of Stephen II), 93 Brisbane St. 1902-1937; 53 Paterson St. 1938-41

SPURLING, Frederick. 75 Murray St. 1870s. Son of Stephen Spurling I.

STORY, Dr. George Fordeyce. Patterson St. Launceston 1855-59.

STRANGE, Fred. Patterson St. Launceston 1855-59.

STUBBS, W. J. Patterson St. Launceston, 1855.

STUMP, A. At Charles WHERRETT's 1872-1873. 57 Collins St. 1880. Nicholas & Stump.

SUTTON, H. B. 195 Charles St. Launceston. 1896.

TASMANIAN PHOTOGRAPHIC CO. Charles St, Launceston, 1888-91.

TAYLOR J. J. Launceston 1890s.

TEAGUE, William H. Zeehan, 1894.

THWAITES, W. Snr. 128 Liverpool St. 1861. Macquarie St. 1862-1865.

TUCK, Henry. Haymarket, Hobart. 1868. Lucas & Tuck.

UDNY, Dr. Amateur, Launceston, 1843.

VITA STUDIO. 138 Liverpool St. 1875-1880.

WARD, F. B. Deloraine, 1896.

WARDE, Ernest. Waratah, Tas. 1900.

WARREN, Launceston, ca. 1898.

WATERWORTH, Henry T. Burnie, Tas.

WEBB, T.D. & SON, St. John St. Launceston, 1867-70.

WESLEY, A. S. Leltah (?), Tas. 1897.

WESLEY, E. C. Roseberry, 1900.

WHERRETT, Charles B. Charles Wherrett senior, 83 Elizabeth St. 1872-1881; Charles B. Wherrett (son) Melbourne Portrait Rooms, 113 Elizabeth St. 1884-1897 (or longer?). With R. McGuffie until 1897.

WHITELAW, Alfred Percy, at CAWSTON's, Launceston, 1883-1889. 195 Charles St. 1892-95; 74 St. John St. Launceston, 1897-1900.

WILLIAMS, Henry. 206 Murray St. 1859.

WILLIAMSON, C. A. H. Brisbane St. Launceston 1860; Cameron St. Launceston 1862.

WINTER, Alfred. 29 Bourke St. Melbourne 1860-1864; 90 Bourke St. Melb 1865-1867; 172 Latrobe St. Melb 1866; Bathurst St. Hobart 1869-1891; 19 Elizabeth St. 1874-1875; 23 Elizabeth St. 1878-1880; 91A Elizabeth St. 1880-1881.

WOOLLEY, Charles A. 42 Macquarie St. c 1860-1870.

Sources:
Names, dates and studio addresses: Davies & Stanbury The Mechanical Eye in Australia, Oxford University Press 1986. State Library of Tasmania, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, National Library of Australia, Archives Office of Tasmania, Private Collections.
Copyright KLW NFC Imprint 2005-2009. Do not reproduce.

Elizabeth Nevin's souvenir cruet of the Model Prison

SOUVENIR WARE Model Prison Port Arthur Tasmania
PRISONER RECORDS Mitchell Library SLNSW



This piece of souvenir ware was "Made in Germany" and was either "57" in a series or made at a coded location, according to the mark on the bottom of the large bowl bearing an image on the front of what claims to represent the ruins of the Model Prison at the Port Arthur penitentiary, Tasman Peninsula, Tasmania.

Port Arthur souvenir ware made in Germany

Souvenir cruet, Port Arthur model prison
Photo © KLW NFC Imprint  Private Collection 2005-2009 ARR.
Watermarked image.


The three bowls constitute a cruet for mustard, salt, and pepper with a shaker lid.The inscription printed below the image states:

"ENTRANCE TO DUMB CELL, MODEL PRISON, PORT ARTHUR, TAS."

Originally in the possession of photographer Thomas Nevin (1842-1923) and now in the possession of his descendants, it probably dates from ca. 1890 to the 1920s. The palm trees, which are little more than generic images of date palms and which as a species were unlikely to be found in Tasmania outside of the Royal Botanical Gardens in those years, appear to have been incorporated at the time of manufacture in Germany. The prison image was most likely added after importation by local artisans; their repertoire of images would have been chosen to suit the particular site or occasion.

Photo historian Jack Cato remarked in his publication The Story of the Camera in Australia (1955:168) that photographer W.H. Carl Burrows (fl. 1876-1895, Launceston, and at Alba Studios Hobart 1900s) was the first in Tasmania to do photo ceramics -
... burning his landscapes on to china plates, cups and saucers. His clever daughters, named alphabetically from Eunice down to Octavius the son, painted medallions of wildflowers, mountain berries, and waratah that sold like hot cakes to the tourists.(1955:168).
The image on this souvenir cruet is no photograph. It appears to be a lithograph of a photograph at best or just a sketch, an artist's impression of the entrance to the exercise yards derived from descriptions of what the ruins of the Model Prison may have looked like by the 1900s.



The inscription printed below the image states:

"ENTRANCE TO DUMB CELL, MODEL PRISON, PORT ARTHUR, TAS."


These images are watermarked.
Photography and souvenir cruet copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection  2007 ARR 

THE DUMB CELLS
The separate prison - called The Model - was built at Port Arthur between 1848 and 1852. Fifty cells, arranged in three wings radiated from a central hall from which each wing was visible. The fourth wing contained the Chapel with fifty separate wooden stalls. There were four exercise yards, one of which was for convicts removed to one of the two Dumb Cells for a few days of severe punishment.



Photograph - Port Arthur - Model Prison - exercise yard and solitary cell marked X
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania Ref: 30/4536

Pictured here is the entrance to one of the Dumb Cells, marked with an "X" , taken ca 1890 and printed by John Watt Beattie. The entrance to the Dumb Cells was through an outer door from the exercise yard, and then through three inner doors.



Plan - Tasman Peninsula - Model Prison - Port Arthur
Item Number: PWD266/1/1818
Start Date: 01 Jan 1857
End Date: 31 Dec 1857
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

The Hobart Mercury reported on the 18th February, 1877:
The two Dumb Cells are situated on either side of the right wing, with no windows or external entrance save through the internal exercise yard door, and then through three more inner doors. When the outer door alone was closed, the interior was perfectly dark and no sound could enter or escape.
Source: Weidenhofer, Maggie, Port Arthur: A Place of Misery (1981,1990, p.77)

This photograph (below), although taken by Jack Thwaites (1902-1986) in the 1960s, shows the crumbling wall which the sketch artist incorporated into the ceramic image of the Model Prison souvenir cruet:



Photograph - Port Arthur - Entrances to the exercise yards, model prison.
Item Number: NS3195/1/4630
Start Date: 20 Dec 1967
End Date: 20 Dec 1967
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania



Souvenir cruet, Port Arthur model prison
Photo © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2019 ARR.
Watermarked image.


THE SEPARATE PRISON RECORDS



Text: Separate Prison
Men under Strict Separate Treatment confined in the Separate Prison October 1867
Mitchell Library NSW Manuscripts Original : B 5

Detail of frontispiece photo © KLW NFC 2009 ARR




The David Scott Mitchell Collection
Photo © KLW NFC 2009 ARR


The Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, holds the original documents detailing the names of prisoners incarcerated in the Model Prison 1860s-1870s, together with their activities and general behaviour, per this catalogue entry:

SLNSW Mitchell Library
Title : Convict Department - Separate Prison Reports, 1867-1871
Creator : Tasmania. Convict Department
Date of Work : 1867-1871
Type of Material : Manuscripts Ask for : Original : B 5
Physical Description : Collection comprises - 1 volume - 0.02 metres
Admin / Biog Notes : The Separate Prison was located in the colonial penal establishment at Port Arthur, Tasmania. It opened in 1849 and provided the most severe measures of punishment. Here, constant surveillance, solitary confinement and silence were considered the way to reform. The building was a small modified version of the Pentonville Prison in London. It contained individual cells built around a four-wing radial design that ensured constant surveillance, as well as two dumb cells and a separate chapel.
Contents : 1 October 1867 - 4 July 1871; Each page is headed with the name of a convict and the ship he arrived on. Beneath this are entries in columns under the titles of Week ending, Employment, Class, Amount of Work performed, Conduct, Industry, Signature of Officer in Charge (A.W., John Cassidy, M. McCarthy, and P.M. Guinness), and earnings letter.
Inscriptions : Titled from handwritten inscription on paper plate affixed to front endpaper of volume, "No.38 / Separate Prison. / Men under strict separate / treatment confined in / the Separate Prison.- / October 1867-"Embossed on spine, "Convicts / Separate / Prison / Reports / 1867-71"
Notes : Pages are ruled into columns and rows of a table and an account book.Some entries note, "Discharge to Hobart Town", implying that the prison is elsewhere in Tasmania.There are pin holes evident in the pages indicating that there were additional notes and papers.Volume was bound in July 1933.David Scott Mitchell bookplate inside front cover."D.S. Mitchell" signature at front of original volume.
Source : Bequeathed by D.S. Mitchell, 1907
Place : Port Arthur (Tas.)
LC Subject : Convicts -- Tasmania.David Scott Mitchell Collection.Prisons -- Tasmania -- Port Arthur.
Call no. : B 5




Photo taken at Mitchell Library NSW © KLW NFC 2009 ARR

To read more about these Separate Model Prison records for Edward Beaver and George White as Nut [sic,i.e. Nutt] - see this article here.

STORM IN A TEA SET
We approached the Port Arthur Historic Site (PAHS) in 2005 for any information the museum there might have about early Port Arthur souvenir ware. The PAHS Collections and Interpretation Manager, Julia Clark, took these photographs of what is supposedly a piece from a tea set held on site, and despite their abject quality which made them useless for any discernible purpose, let alone display, submitted them to this weblog as a "courtesy". No apology was extended, and no offer was made to replace them:



Tea set 001 and 002 "courtesy" of PAHS 2005.

The PAHS proved to be very sensitive about these ridiculous photographs. They are the visual equivalent of the lamentable standard of "research" conducted by Julia Clark on Thomas J. Nevin's prison photographs taken at the Port Arthur prison and Hobart Gaol in the 1870s. This government employee of the PAHSMA proved to be so sensitive to criticism as to resort to fraud in order to seek revenge by attempting to wipe Nevin's name from the photographic records of Tasmanian prison history, all in the name of government funded "research" at which she is as inept and incapable as she is at photographing tea sets. The incident has earned Julia Clark the nick name "the Port Arthur shooter", which the PAHSMA and the Tasmanian public and taxpayer can ill afford to encourage. See related posts below for further examples of Clark's dogged abuse of Nevin and his descendants..

Sensitivity about convictism and crockery has a precedent in the Tasmanian House of Assembly. As Terry Newman recounts it in History Briefs, Parliamentary History Project, this incident over a story of a teapot took place in 1894:

"Teapot Tumult
Tasmanian politics during the 1890s was full of federal tension, but other undercurrents persisted, one of which was convictism. Despite the cessation of transportation having occurred over four decades previously (August 1853), any mention of the convict past was still sensitive, especially so if it was made personally as occurred in the House of Assembly in July 1894.

During debate on the Legal Practitioners Bill a lawyer, George Crosby Gilmore (MHA George Town), perpetrated a seemingly mild verbal assault on Allan MacDonald (MHA North Launceston), a co-founder of the Liberal Progressive League, and operator of a ‘crockery shop.’ ‘In the Chamber while the House was at work’ MacDonald was, so the newspapers reported, taking a ‘warm interest’ in the Bill, and his contribution was followed by Gilmore’s, who began to tell the House a story of a teapot.



Left: G. C. Gilmore (1860-1937)
Right: Allan Macdonald (c1853-1898)


Gilmore had apparently purchased a teapot in Launceston, from ‘someone not a hundred miles from here’, but had found that it had been broken and glued, and when he tried to return it he was simply told that it was the ‘way it had been sent out from England.’ According to newspaper reports MacDonald interjected, saying that Gilmore was ‘sent out in the same condition as the teapot’. What this actually meant was unclear, although Gilmore took it to mean that he was a convict or, as he put it, ‘had convict blood in my veins’. Therefore he demanded an apology, but MacDonald refused, and debate continued. When eventually a parliamentary division was called for on the Legal Practitioners Bill the two parliamentarians in question went to opposite sides of the Chamber. However, while on his feet Gilmore apparently went over to MacDonald and twice repeated his demand for an apology, which was repeatedly refused. At this Gilmore struck MacDonald a ‘resounding blow on the face’ and simply walked on to where he could cast his vote on the Bill.

Shocked by the events, the Premier Edward Braddon drew the attention of the Chairman of Committees, John George Davies, to the blow. Accordingly, Davies finished recording the vote on the question before leaving the Chair. The Speaker, Stafford Bird, resumed the Chair and duly took note of the ‘disorder’. Gilmore immediately apologised for his actions, but added that the convict allusion was the ‘gravest and grossest provocation’. To compound the matter, Gilmore then used unparliamentary language — he said that MacDonald had lied, which term the Speaker required that Gilmore withdraw.

Other Members, such as Sir Elliott Lewis, said that he had been sitting ‘between’ the two MHAs, and that MacDonald had indeed said that Gilmore had been ‘sent out’. Worse still, Gilmore suggested that he would settle the matter with MacDonald ‘outside’, which the Speaker took as a threat as Gilmore’s tone carried a ‘most aggravated sound.’ After further debate Gilmore finally withdrew the ‘threat’. For his part in the ‘teapot’ tumult MacDonald made a statement that Gilmore’s interpretation of his remarks had been ‘erroneous’. He had only meant to refer to Gilmore’s legal background, he was ‘sent out a lawyer like the teapot’.

Moreover, MacDonald refused to apologise under ‘threat’ and adding fuel to the fire explained that during the division he had said to Gilmore that ‘I always thought you were a fool and now I am convinced that you are a fool’, upon which Gilmore had struck him! After an attempt was made by Braddon to exclude Gilmore for the rest of the session he was ‘suspended from attendance in his place during this evening’s sitting’ only. The ‘teapot’ incident was over.
Terry Newman January 2007
Parliamentary History Project"

RELATED POSTS main weblog

Cartes-de-visite photographs of convicts by Nettleton and Nevin

Charles Nettleton's Patents (Victoria)





National Archives of Australia Ref: A2388
Registers of Proprietors of Paintings, Photographs, Works of Art and Sculpture

Charles Nettleton’s government commission to take photographs of the Benevolent Asylum, 
National Museum, the Royal Mint (1873) etc
Photography © KLW NFC 2008 ARR

PATENTS REGISTRATION
The numbers appearing on these cartes-de-visite (below) taken by commissioned prison photographers Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Thomas [T.J.] Nevin (Tasmania) are the copyright registration numbers. Where Nevin's original 1870s glass negative has been reproduced by copyists such as John Watt Beattie and Edward Searle in the 1910s, the number written on the prints from the glass negative pertains to their claim of patent. In some instances, the same number was used by archivists when numbering copies at the holding institutions, eg. the QVMAG, to circulate to other institutions such as the NLA in the 1960s and 1980s. James Geary's carte is an example, below.

Charles Nettleton's vignette of the convict Lowry bears the verso inscription The convict 'Lowry'. The copyright was registered in 1870, and the photograph received the number "190" handwritten on the recto inside the copyright stamp, a practice which continued in Victoria until 1873.

In Tasmania, Thomas Nevin's vignettes of prisoners were registered with his government insignia trademark at the Customs House, which housed the Office of the Registrar of Patents, now at the Archives Office of Tasmania Series RGD9/1/1, RGD12, from 1859-1904.



Webshot: Office of the Registrar of Patents (AOT)



State Library of Victoria
"H96.160/1584, a vignette bust portrait.
He [Lowry] wears a shirt and unbuttoned jacket, and has a moustache."
State Library of Victoria
Nettleton, Charles, 1826-1902, photographer.
Title: The convict ’Lowry’ [picture] / Charles Nettleton.
Accession number(s): H96.160/1584
Date(s) of creation: 1870.
Medium: photograph : albumen silver ;
Dimensions:10 x 6 cm.
Collection: Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection
Notes: Title inscribed on verso.
Date of copyright registration ascertained from Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection (VPOCC) Index: Aug. 6 1870.
VPOCC registration number inscribed on item l.c. & l.r.: 189 & 190.
Registered by Frederick Secretair, Russell Street, Melbourne.
Original Picture Collection location number: Env. 24, no. 39 & 40.
Source/Donor: Transferred from The Victorian Patents Office to the Melbourne Public Library 1908. The files which now comprise the Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection were begun by the Victorian Patents Office in 1870. In order to register copyright, a copy of the photograph, print or illustration was lodged with the Victorian Patents Office at the Melbourne Town Hall. A number was assigned and the photographs were mounted in scrapbooks. The photographs were stamped with the date of registration but this ceased in 1873. The original registers are now in the National Archives of Australia. The Picture Collection holds photocopies of these registers. The registers or indexes contain the following information: Date of registration, name and address of proprietor or author, description of the work and date of first publication. Images were registered from 1870 until 1906. The collection was transferred to the Melbourne Public Library in 1908."


Tasmanian convict photographs by T. J. Nevin



NLA Catalogue [incorrect information]
Title James Gearey, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Date 1874. Extent 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm.
Incription on reverse "149" , Pictorial: P1029/16,
NEVIN, Thomas J. 1842-1923, photographer

Thomas [T.J.] Nevin photographed James Geary (the NLA has mispelt his name) no earlier than the 20th February, 1874 on the occasion of Geary's discharge from the Hobart Gaol where he was incarcerated for escaping from the House of Corrections, and no later than his arrest, recorded in the police gazette for the week of 13th November, 1874. He was listed as "Free" when arraigned for horse-stealing in the Supreme Court, Hobart on 1st December, 1874. Mr Superintendent Richard Propsting, Nevin's supervisor at the Town Hall's Municipal Police Office, recovered the stolen horse etc.

POLICE GAZETTE RECORDS



James Geary absconded from the Hobart Commissariat Stores, police gazette notice of 22nd April 1870. He was serving a sentence of 6 yrs for cattle-stealing, tried 7th July 1868, Hobart.



James Geary was arrested by Sub-Inspector Dorsett, 20 May 1870. Thomas Nevin often accompanied Sub-Inspector Dorsett as assistant bailiff, a service he continued through to 1886.



Geary was photographed by Nevin on being discharged from the Police Office on 20th February 1874.



But Geary reoffended. Warrant for his arrest issued on 6th November 1874



Geary was arrested again on 13th November, 1874, Supt Propsting etc



Geary was arraigned and photographed again by Nevin at the Hobart Supreme Court on 1st December, 1874.

A reproduction of the carte by government photographer John Watt Beattie in the early 1900s for his trade in convictaria at his Hobart museum included the inscription verso "Taken at Port Arthur, 1874" which was the Edwardian equivalent of a batch edit, applied regardless of the actual time and place of original photographic capture. The details that this convict was "native" (a local offender), as well as the patent number assigned to Beattie, were transcribed from the patents registrar, and not from the prisoner's record sheet or police documents which bore an entirely different set of numbers.

The 1870s originals were intended to be pasted to the prisoner's record sheet. A similar photograph (unattributed) of convict George Miller dated 1881 is held in the State Archives of NSW. All three of these vignettes were produced within the conventions of commercial studio portraiture typical of 1870s prison photography in Australia when professional photographers were contracted under tender: the use of albumen, an oval frame, a darkened background in many instances, and the subject posed with sight lines to either semi-left or semi- right of frame. Very few absolute profile photographs were taken by these 1870s photographers, a feature of later prison photography influenced by the Bertillon method. See also this entry “Prison photographers Nettleton, Nevin and Crawford” for the vignette of Ned Kelly attributed to Nettleton, and for Frazer Crawford’s account of his methods used to photograph prisoners in South Australia in 1867.



Gaol Photograph of George Miller [NRS 2138 Vol. 3/6044 Photo No. 2688 p. 219]
Unattributed photo: NSW State Archives


T. J. Nevin's Royal Arms studio stamp

THE GOVERNOR'S PATRONAGE vs GOVERNMENT TENDER
ROYAL ARMS INSIGNIA



Royal Arms insignia atop Treasury building Hobart
Photo © KLW NFC 2011 Arr

Commercial photographers in Tasmania in the 1870s and 1880s were extended two basic but very different types of government support, and these differences are evident in the designs of their studio stamps. Henry Hall Baily, for example, used a stamp signifying patronage by the Governor of Tasmania. He photographed notable citizens, visiting VIPs and official functions, often with the express intention of submitting his photographs to national and international exhibitions. In other words, H. H. Baily was never contracted under tender to work for the Colonial government, merely rewarded for special commissions by the Governor. His stamp from the mid 1880s was printed with the words "Under the Patronage of His Excellency Sir G. C. Strahan", and the initials "K.C.M.G" beneath.



Thomas J. Nevin, by contrast, was issued with a stamp which contained the design of the Supreme Court seal and the Prisons Department publications banner because he served the Colonial government as a contracted photographer on a regular basis in Supreme Court sittings. From 1868, he was receiving commission for his work with the Lands and Survey Department and from 1872 for his photographic documentation of prisoners, and by 1873, he was contracted on a permanent basis, eventually joining the civil service full-time in 1876. He continued working with police in Hobart's courts and prisons until 1886. This is one of many extant examples of T. J. Nevin’s government contractor stamp with the Royal Arms insignia which he was required to display on the versos of at least one photograph per batch supplied on commission to the Lands and Survey Department and the Municipal Police Office, Hobart City Council, between 1865 and 1876

All government contractors used the Royal Arms insignia. Naval contractor J. Callaghan proudly displayed it as his business credentials above his butchery shop entrance.



Photograph – J Callaghan’s Butcher’s shop, Morrison Street, Hobart
Description: 1 photographic print
ADRI: NS1013-1-1075
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

Just as the butcher J. Callaghan displayed his government contract credentials above his shop entrance, Thomas J. Nevin would have displayed a similar sign at his studio in Elizabeth Street.

The studio stamp on the verso of Nevin's photograph of prisoner William Smith's portrait (below), held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, carries the government's official Royal Arms insignia with lion and unicorn rampant. Unlike other types of studio stamps which Nevin used between 1867 and 1884, this particular version carries the middle initial "J" for James in his name: "T. J. Nevin". The same stamp appears on the versos of T. J. Nevin's police photographs of convicts William Smith and James Mullins held at the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW.



Convict William Smith per Gilmore (3), transported 20th August, 1843.
Photo by T. J. Nevin, 1874, held at the QVMAG, Launceston.




Convict William Smith per Gilmore (3),
Photo by T.J. Nevin 1875, recto and verso

Mitchell Library NSW (PXB 274)
Photos © KLW NFC 2009 Arr





Above: Both these photographs of prisoners, James Mullins on left and William Smith on right, bear Nevin’s contractor stamp with the Hobart Supreme Court Royal Arms insignia.
Mitchell Library NSW (PXB 274)
Photos © KLW NFC 2009-14 Arr

Under instructions from the Attorney-General W.R. Giblin, Thomas Nevin worked with Frederick Stops, Clerk to the Attorney-General to photograph men at trial in the Supreme Court and Hobart Gaol by 1872, and the inmates from the Port Arthur penitentiary on their transfer to the Hobart Gaol in 1873. Government printer James Barnard designed this stamp for Nevin and registered it at the Town Hall Municipal Police Office in February 1872 when Nevin's commission as police and prisons photographer was underwritten by contract to the Colonial Government.



The Tasmanian Prison Act 1868 with the Royal Arms insignia:
Consolidation and Amendation of the Tasmanian Prison Act 1868, printed by James Barnard.
Source: eHeritage database, State library of Tasmania


H.H. BAILY
Photographer Henry Hall Baily, a close associate of Thomas Nevin, used a variation of the Royal Arms insignia on his studio stamp with the words, "Under the Patronage of His Excellency Sir G. C. Strahan", and the initials "K.C.M.G" beneath.

Sir George C. STRAHAN, Governor Major, KCMG 7, held the office between December 1881 and 28th October 1886, which indicates that Baily assumed the Governor's patronage no earlier than 1881. Baily's earlier studio stamps ca. 1870s on the verso of portraits taken at his Elizabeth Street studio - which was directly opposite Nevin's City Photographic Establishment - lack the Royal Arms insignia.



H.H. Baily stamp, ca 1881-86 (TMAG 1995).

ALFRED WINTER
Commercial photographer Alfred Winter (1837-1911) was fond of fashionable society and grand landscapes. He held a commission with the Land and Works Department from 1876, but retained full independence as a commercial photographer at his studio in Elizabeth St. Hobart. His usual stamp from the late 1870s into the 1880s carried the wording“By Appointment to His Excellency The Governor”.  This studio portrait of Anne Delaware was taken in 1884.



Photo recto and verso courtesy of John McCullagh
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2007

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery databases

This Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery notice about their photographic collections appeared in November 2006. It is now September 2010, and the promised website with viewable databases of their vast photographic holdings is still not up and running. The TMAG holds a sizable collection of rare works by Thomas J. Nevin



TMAG notice of website redevelopment 2006 for the images collections.
Click on image for large version.


Current notice (Sept 2010):
ONLINE ACCESS TO THE STATE COLLECTION
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery is in the process of developing world-class access to our collection information. The TMAG has one of the most diverse collections in Australia, and with this diversity, challenges for digitisation are presented. The TMAG is committed to providing access to this information, and whilst our on-line service is unavailable, requests for assistance can be directed to TMAGmail@tmag.tas.gov.au.
The TMAG's Collections hold ninety and probably many more uncatalogued photographs by Thomas Nevin, sixty of which are stereographs, called 'stereoscopes' in the former catalogue entries. In addition, quite a number of his Tasmanian convicts' portraits are held there, but with the wrong attribution to A.H. Boyd, a result of the confusion generated by researcher Chris Long, which appeared in the TMAG's publication, Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940: A Directory (1995:36). Boyd was a prison Commandant at Port Arthur (1871-73) but he was not a photographer, neither amateur nor official. Nevin was the commercial photographer on government contract who photographed those prisoners known as "Port Arthur convicts", i.e. those who were transported before 1853, when they re-offended in the 1870s and were arrested, sentenced and arraigned at the Supreme Court and incarcerated at the adjoining Hobart Gaol for a month BEFORE they were returned to Port Arthur to serve their sentence, if that was their fate. By late 1873-74, the majority of those sent back to Port Arthur, 109 in all, had been transferred back to the Hobart Town Gaol in Campbell St., where they were photographed on being received if sentenced prior to mid 1871 when Nevin began the systematic documentation of their images for the Colonial government.

The TMAG's annual report for 2002-2003 gives some idea of the extent of their photographic holdings, including their chartered obligation to give the public access, in this webshot which also shows the misattribution to Boyd of one of Nevin's convict cartes, that of James Glen sentenced to 10 years in the Hobart Supreme Court on July 4, 1871. Another two Nevin prisoner mugshots to survive from this July 1871 sitting are those of John Appleby (NLA Collection) and Joseph Graham (QVMAG Collection).



TMAG Annual Report 2002-2003
Click on image for readable version


NEVIN's "CONVICT" PHOTOGRAPHS



The A.H. Boyd misattribution appears below this prisoner photograph by Nevin, taken at the Hobart Supreme Court, 4 July 1871.



James Glen was arrested for stealing plate from Webb's Hotel, notice published in the police gazette of 10 February 1871.


James Glen held a Conditional pardon from Western Australia when he was sentenced to ten years for feloniously receiving and photographed by Nevin at the Hobart Supreme Court on 4th July 1871.

Source of police records: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, Gov't printer

NEVIN's STEREOGRAPHs and CDVs

Seven or so of the stereo salt paper prints were online during 2006. These were catalogued in the images database. However, in the text-only database, another 53 photographs by Thomas Nevin were listed but not digitised.

Three major problems with the TMAG lists have emerged:

(a) Confusion over name: the initial "J" for James appears as a middle initial in Thomas Nevin's name in some entries and not in others, depending on which of the several versions of his studio stamps have been sighted: e.g. T.Nevin; T.J. Nevin, Thos. Nevin, Thomas J. Nevin, and Thomas Nevin, causing confusion with his son's name, Thomas James Nevin, born in 1874. Nevin used the initials "T.J. Nevin" on his Royal Arms studio stamp from at least January 1873.

(b) Wrongful attribution to A. H. Boyd instead of Thomas Nevin of the collection of Tasmanian prisoner photographs held by the TMAG, several of which are identical to those attributed to Thomas Nevin in the major collections of the National Library of Australia, the QVMAG, and the Archives Office of Tasmania.

(c) Items which have been displaced from their series lose their attribution; for example, item no. Q1994.56.4 belongs to a series by Thomas Nevin, and it was online. It is a stereograph of a group at the Rocking Stone, Mt. Wellington, and belongs in the series Q1994.56.1 etc etc which bears "T. Nevin" impressed on front. Because it lacks attribution, it does not appear among the 53 entries in the list attached.


THE LIST with notes copied verbatim from the TMAG online catalogues 2006.

NB: This is the list of stereographs by Thomas Nevin from the TMAG databases, 2006, copied verbatim with the cataloguist’s numbering and descriptions. This list is out of date. Search this site for accurate descriptions and information of each stereograph posted on this site since November 10th, 2014

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Q9134 ITEM NAME: Photograph print : MEDIUM: Albumen silver carte de visite, MAKER: T Nevin late A Bock [Artist]; TITLE: 'Melville West Hobart under snow ' DATE: 1868, July DETAILS: Wellington Park exhibition DESCRIPTION : View is looking to Mt Wellington from the southern side of Melville and also shows the Kings Arms near the center of image; St Mary's burial ground near center left of image. A store is shown on the corner of Murray and Melville ?

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Q1994.56.7 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Salmon Ponds at Plenty near New Norfolk INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.5 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - oval image, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Ladies and gentleman, seated and standing round stone wall? Same group as in Q994.56.1, Q1994.56.24' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : recreation, walking INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T.Nevin/ photo.

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Q1994.56.34 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Lady Franklin's Museum, KangarooValley' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Group of people at Lady Franklin's Museum, Kangaroo Valley INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back in pencil: Mrs A Pedder / and in different hand Lady Franklin's Museum/ KangarooValley and in different hand again best picture

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Q1994.56.33 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Elizabeth Street showing Nevin & Smith photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Steet near [Patrick ? Street] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: None

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Q1994.56.30 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Hobart from Lime Kiln Hill looking down Harrington Street INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back in pencil: a Pedder and stamped Thos Nevin/ Newtown

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Q1994.56.28 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope, MAKER: Thos Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town ? looking to the Domain INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Stamped on back: Thos Nevin/ Newtown

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Q1994.56.24 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Group of people in bush setting, same group as in Q994.56.1, Q1994.56.5 INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.22 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Two men sitting at fence looking out over a field' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : post and rail fence, pipe INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.21 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Scene near New Norfolk ? INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.20.1 ITEM NAME: Label: MEDIUM: Paper and printing ink, MAKER: Nevin & Smith [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Label from the back of Q1994.56.20 for photographers Nevin & Smith, 140 elizabeth Street, Hobarton INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back a pink label: Tasmanian views/ from/ Nevin & Smith,/ Photographers,/ 140, Elizabeth St., Hobarton./ Stereoscopic and Album Portraits/ Views Photographed./ Viiews of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms —Cheap!

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Q1994.56.20 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: Nevin & Smith [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Group of people dancing in field. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: On back a pink label: Tasmanian views/ from/ Nevin & Smith,/ Photographers,/ 140, Elizabeth St., Hobarton./ Stereoscopic and Album Portraits/ Views Photographed./ Viiews of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms —Cheap!

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Q1994.56.2.1 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - Arched image, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Label from back of stereo view Q1984.56.20 -Scenic view showing waterfall INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Printed on back in oval stamp: T J Nevin/ Photographic Artist/ 140 Elizabeth Street.,/ HobartTown/ Copies may be had at any time

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Q1994.56.2 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - Arched image, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Scenic view showing waterfall INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Printed on back in oval stamp: T J Nevin/ Photographic Artist/ 140 Elizabeth Street.,/ HobartTown/ Copies may be had at any time

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Q1994.56.17 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : D Chisholm, standing at gate Bathurst ? Brisbane ? Street, Hobart Town, D Chisholm , school master, New Town School, 1872 [refer Q1987.388] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: None

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Q1994.56.13 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia salt paper stereoscope , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Fern Tree ? INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impress on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.12 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope salt paper print , MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1860s late DESCRIPTION : Hobart from near 140 Elizabeth Street on corner Patrick ? Street. Nevin & Smith photographic Studio in buildings on extreme right [ refer also to Q1994.56.33] INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impress on front: T Nevin/ photo

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Q1994.56.1 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope - arched image, MAKER: T Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Group of gentlemen and a lady on board a ship. Capstan wheel in centre of image. Same group as in Q994.56.5, Q1994.56.24 INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front : T Nevin/ Photo

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Q1990.25.401 ITEM NAME: Photograph print: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Clifford & Nevin [Artist]; DESCRIPTION : Studio portrait of unknown woman standing next to chair INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: Clifford & Nevin/ HobartTown

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Q1990.25.400 ITEM NAME: Photograph print: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Clifford & Nevin [Artist]; DESCRIPTION : Studio portrait of unknown woman INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: Clifford & Nevin/ HobartTown

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Q1987.388 ITEM NAME: Photograph: MEDIUM: carte de visite, MAKER: Thos Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Brisbane Street, Hobart. Shows D Chisholm, schoolmaster at New Town Public School leaning on fence. ' DATE: 1870 s INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: In ink on back: "Bathurst ?/ or Brisbane St ?/ Hobart /1870s My father D Chisholm/ at the gate/ Bathurst St/ HobartTown"

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Q16826.9 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'Tasmanian Views.' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : No information relative to title of his images. This one, of a house or maybe a school. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: (On bacK) Tas. Views from Nevin & Smith (Late) Photographers (s crossed out) 140 Elizabeth Street. Steroscopic and Album Portraits Views Photographed. Views of Residences, Tombstones copied, Terms:-Cheap!

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Q16826.7 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Beacon Light Mount Wellington ' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A group of people on Mt.Wellington The party appears to consist of 3/4 women and perhaps 10 malesof assorted ages.

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Q16826.6 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A Gentleman slouched against a tree. Possibly, Mr Chisolm, the school teacher from New Town

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Q16826.5 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'New Town' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Cottage in New Town

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Q16826.4 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A Party at the Rocking Stone, MountWellington' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A group of people at the Rocking Stone on Mt.Wellington. Consists of 4 men and three women.The two women sitting on the ground in front of the rock appear to be sisters.

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Q16826.38 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A Bush Scene. Thick scrub, probably near Hobart.

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Q16826.37 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : A Bush Scene. Thick scrub, probably near Hobart. A river could be in the top of the photo,

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Q16826.36 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Mount Wellington Foothills?

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Q16826.35 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Mount Wellington

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Q16826.34 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns. Possibly near Hobart, maybe Mt.Wellington or KangarooValley.

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Q16826.33 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns. Possibly near Hobart, maybe Mt.Wellington.

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Q16826.32 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Shows 3 men astride large rocks on Mt.Wellington.

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Q16826.31 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia coloured stereoscope, MAKER: Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Ferns With Snow. Ferns with snow, possibly at KangarooValley. (LenahValley)

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Q16826.30 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia coloured stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'FernsKangarooValley.' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : (LenahValley)

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Q16826.3 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Domain Hobart' DESCRIPTION : Hobart Domain with two men in the foreground and Government House in the background, the Derwent can be seen on the right.

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Q16826.29 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A conservatory' DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : Inside a conservatory. Location unknown.

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Q16826.28 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town Public School

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Q16826.27 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870s DESCRIPTION : New Town Public School

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Q16826.22 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: TJ Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : A River Front Scene. Location is impossible to identify. Maybe the Huon or the Derwent near new Norfolk.

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Q16826.21 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Appears to be a rural location two timber cottages in the foreground. Others on the right further up the hill which looms over the site. Two people are entertaining a deer. A horned steer or cow is menacingly standing behind them. A dog kennel is further behind them near the fence.

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Q16826.20 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Photographer]; DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : MountWellington - not Mt Wellington - looks like a man made channel

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Q16826.19 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T J Nevin [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A waterfront shot. Location is uncertain. Possibly, the Huon. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photographic Artist 140 Elizabeth StreetHobart Town. Copies may be had at any time. A. Peddar.

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Q16826.16 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Artist]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : New Norfolk , bridge over the Derwent. Bush Hotel can be seen on the left. A gentleman is observing the scene in the right forehand.

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Q16826.15 ITEM NAME: photogrpah: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Photographer]; DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A shot of 2 men inside the entrance of SaltRockCave at Victoria, Huon INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photogrpahic Artist 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town. Copies may be had at any time. On back of Q 16826.14

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Q16826.14 ITEM NAME: photogrpah: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'Salt Rock Cave Victoria Huon' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : A shot of five men inside the entrance of Salt Rock Cave INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: T.J. Nevin Photogrpahic Artist 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town. Copies may be had at any time.

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Q16826.12 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'Landscape, not Tasmanian' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : Perhaps not even Australian, but Antipodean. (NZ)

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Q16826.11 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: Thomas Nevin [Photographer]; TITLE: 'A Mining Operation' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : Appears to be a mining operation. The presence of crushed rock/ore. A trolley on tracks. Horse and pulley. Location uncertain, but there is a mountain or something like one shrouded in mist in the background. Perhaps Mt.Wellington. There are three men in the scene. One is partially hidden beside the shed on the right. INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Thomas Nevin New Town

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Q16826.10 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'A Garden Gathering' DATE: 1870c DESCRIPTION : A gathering in the garden. Note the presence of statues the lion in front of the young girl; and a couple of other rather ''grotesquely'' interesting looking characters. The 3 girls look sullen and the boy troublesome. Two gentlemen appear to be supervising proceedings. No hint of location, there are some buildings in the background. Two watering cans present.

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Q16826.1.2 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: albumen silver print sepia toned stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'SchoolHouseKangarooValley' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : This photo depicts three adults and four children at KangarooValley (LenahValley) INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: A Pedder

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Q16826.1.1 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: salted paper print stereoscope, MAKER: T Nevin ? [Artist]; TITLE: 'SchoolHouseKangarooValley' DATE: 1860s DESCRIPTION : This photo depicts three adults and four children at KangarooValley (LenahValley) INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: A Pedder

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Q16826 ITEM NAME: photograph: MAKER: Nevin [Artist]; TITLE: 'Collection of stereoscopic views by various photographers. Numbering to be expanded'

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Q14529 ITEM NAME: photograph: MEDIUM: carte de visite, TITLE: 'Mrs. Morrison.' DATE: 1870C INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: in ink on back: Mrs Morrison and stamped : T Nevin late A Bock city photographic establishment in oval design encircled in belt



T. Nevin, Elizabeth St. Hobart Town
TMAG Ref: Q1994.56.33

Australia's FIRST MUGSHOTS

PLEASE NOTE: Below each image held at the National Library of Australia is their catalogue batch edit which gives the false impression that all these "convict portraits" were taken solely because these men were transported convicts per se (i.e before cessation in 1853), and that they might have been photographed as a one-off amateur portfolio by a prison official at the Port Arthur prison in 1874, which they were not. Any reference to the Port Arthur prison official A. H. Boyd on the NLA catalogue records is an error, a PARASITIC ATTRIBUTION with no basis in fact. The men in these images were photographed in the 1870s-1880s because they were repeatedly sentenced as habitual offenders whose mugshots were taken on arrest, trial, arraignment, incarceration and/or discharge by government contractor, police and prisons photographer T. J. Nevin at the Supreme Court and adjoining Hobart Gaol with his brother Constable John Nevin, and at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall when appearing at The Mayor's Court. The Nevin brothers produced over a thousand originals and duplicates of Tasmanian prisoners, the bulk now lost or destroyed. The three hundred extant mugshots were the random estrays salvaged - and reproduced in many instances- for sale at Beattie's local convictaria museum in Hobart and at interstate exhibitions associated with the fake convict ship Success in the early 1900s. The mugshots were selected on the basis of the prisoner's notoriety from the Supreme Court trial registers (Rough Calendar), the Habitual Criminals Registers (Gaol Photo Books), warrant forms, and police gazettes records of the 1870s-1880s. The earliest taken on government contract by T. J. Nevin date from 1872. The police records sourced here are from the weekly police gazettes which were called (until 1884) Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1871-1885. J. Barnard, Gov't Printer.