Monthly Archives: March 2009

Three significant prisoner cartes by T.J. Nevin

This gallery contains 14 photos.

More than 3000 Tasmanian prisoner identification photographs (mugshots) were taken by the brothers Thomas and (Constable) John (Jack) Nevin between 1872 and 1884. T. J. Nevin, 9 convicts photographs Mitchell Library NSW (PXB 274) Photo KLW NFC 2009 Arr Most … Continue reading

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Two histories, one execution

This gallery contains 22 photos.

Emanuel Blore and Job Smith aka William Campbell From the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection Reproduced from page 36 of Tasmanian Photographers 1840-1940: A Directory (TMAG 1995) Photo © KLW NFC 2008 ARR Click on image for large view … Continue reading

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Mismatched records : The Bulletin 1978

This gallery contains 7 photos.

The article below appeared in The Bulletin, a weekly Australian magazine on May 16, 1978. The journalist’s name was not recorded. It was published a year after the initial exhibition of the Tasmanian convict portraits by Thomas Nevin, held at … Continue reading

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About those photographic glasses 1873 …

This gallery contains 113 photos.

A. H. Boyd had no reputation in his own lifetime as a photographer, none subsequently, and no works by him are extant, yet he suddenly entered photo history as an “artist” in 1995 due largely to a sentence in a children’s fictional tale, and a cargo list. Thomas J. Nevin, well-known within his lifetime as a contractual commercial photographer, civil servant, and special constable with the Municipal and Territorial Police, and with a sizeable legacy dating from the 1860s held in State, National and private collections, was effectively dismissed as a “copyist” by Chris Long. Authoritative commentators who were aware of the problem ensured Chris Long was named as someone in error on this matter when Nevin’s biographical details were published in 1992 ( Willis, Kerr, Stilwell, Neville, etc). Continue reading

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Working with police and prisoners

This gallery contains 89 photos.

The last document (to date) of Thomas Nevin’s direct involvement with government legislation pertaining to police administration was signed as a resolution on the occasion of a bill to be introduced in the House of Assembly to effectively centralise the various municipal and territorial forces. The meeting he attended and its resolutions, which was chaired by His Worship the Mayor Alderman Crouch, was reported in The Mercury, 19 July 1888. Thomas Nevin’s recorded comment was:

“Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision.” Continue reading

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Fourth son George Ernest Nevin

This gallery contains 6 photos.

George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957) was born at the Hobart Town Hall during his father Thomas Nevin’s occupancy as Office and Hall Keeper, and photographer with the Municipal Police Office. Thanks to George’s prescience in keeping photographs taken by his father … Continue reading

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Thomas Nevin self portraits 1850s-1880

This gallery contains 6 photos.

There are not many extant self portraits of Tasmanian colonial photographers of the 1850s-1880. The watercolour attributed to Alfred Bock of a young gentleman is held at the State Library of Tasmania; the photographs are held in descendants’ private collections. … Continue reading

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