Prisoner Charles HEYS [Hayes?] as Ward

January 19, 2009

Two different photographs are extant in the National Library of Australia collection – and not recorded in any other public collection – of a prisoner whom the police discharged as Charles Heys on 22nd July 1874, noting in the gazette that his alias was Ward, transported to Tasmania on the Moffatt 2. Thomas J. Nevin took both photographs at the Hobart Gaol, and possibly of two different men, but which photograph is the one taken on discharge in 1874 of the prisoner identified by police as Charles Heys in 1874? If it is the same prisoner in both photographs, he was photographed at different times wearing the standard issue winter prisoner uniform in one, and summer uniform in the other. Given that Charles Heys [what is the verso inscription -Heys or Hayes?] as Ward was discharged during the winter month of July, the prisoner wearing the heavy overcoat was most likely the man recorded as Charles Heys when Nevin photographed him for that event. … More Prisoner Charles HEYS [Hayes?] as Ward

Prisoner William WALKER

January 19, 2009

William Walker was photographed at the Mayor’s Court, Hobart Town Hall by Thomas Nevin on discharge, 22 July 1874, having served 7 yrs of a 10 year sentence. But William Walker was convicted again 23 October, 1875, sentenced to 6 months for larceny, and incarcerated at the Hobart Gaol. His age was listed as 68 yrs; and his occupation as “painter”. … More Prisoner William WALKER

Prisoner John TOOMEY

January 19, 2009

John Toomey was received from Port Arthur, photographed by T. J. Nevin on discharge at the Hobart Municipal Police Office, Town Hall on 1st May 1875. Also discharged and photographed by Nevin in the same week were John Moran and Bewley Tuck. … More Prisoner John TOOMEY

Prisoner Henry PAGE

January 19, 2009

Public outrage at capital punishment, sparked by the execution of Job Smith whom Nevin had photographed under the alias of William Campbell (NLA and TMAG Collections), referred to the reprieve granted to Charles Downes, as well as Marsh and Henry Page, in letters to The Mercury, May 29th 1875. … More Prisoner Henry PAGE

Tasmanian prisoner John Moran, photo by T. J. Nevin 1874

Prisoner John MORAN 1874

January 19, 2009

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery acquired this copy of Thomas J. Nevin’s cdv of prisoner John Moran (1874) when it was deposited there in 1983 at the conclusion of an exhibition held at the Port Arthur Heritage site, Tasman Peninsula. This cdv – and another 50 or so – were originally held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, acquired from the estate of convictaria collector John Watt Beattie in the 1930s. He had sourced them from offical prison records deemed government estrays which were either offered at auction or designated for destruction during the Lyons period of government in the 1920s. Instead of being returned to the QVMAG, this cdv of John Moran and the other 50 or so prisoner cdvs were left at the TMAG in Hobart. Some were copied as black and white images for the Archives Office of Tasmania. … More Prisoner John MORAN 1874

Prisoner James HARPER like Oliver Twist

January 19, 2009

A. Dangerous Character-A prisoner under going a sentence in H M Gaol was brought before the Police Magistrate yesterday for committing an assault on one of the warders of the establishment It appeared that the man, whose name is James Harper, of a remarkably villanous countenance was like “Oliver Twist, the workhouse boy, and wanted more breakfast, after consuming his legal allowance of “skilley”, and because the warder refused this most unreasonable request, he took up a zinc bucket containing about two gallons of the coveted “skilley, ” and sent bucket and all flying at the warder’s head … More Prisoner James HARPER like Oliver Twist

Prisoners Micheal GILMORE and James KILPATRICK at the NLA

January 19, 2009

The information about Gilmore’s criminal activities from the police gazettes, called Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, James Barnard, Gov’t Printer, is easily obtainable, so why was nothing but basic transportation records about this prisoner, Michael Gilmore (and the second man with a similar name) included in the National Library of Australia’s publication of their Tasmanian “convict portraits”, titled Exiled, The Port Arthur Convict Photographs (NLA 2011)? … More Prisoners Micheal GILMORE and James KILPATRICK at the NLA

Prisoner Thomas GRIFFIN

January 19, 2009

Thomas Griffin per Rodney 2 was discharged from the Port Arthur prison on 22-26 June 1872, with a ticket of leave. He was not photographed at Port Arthur, despite the inscription on the verso of his photograph – if the NLA Catalogue notes have literally transcribed it, that is, which is often not the case with these photographs of prisoners bearing the 20th century archivist’s incorrect information compounded by the NLA’s batch edit of all 84 of their collection. His TOL was recorded earlier, on the 12 June 1872. He remained in service at the Military Barracks (Anglesea Barracks, Hobart) until he absconded on 6th January 1873. When he was found and arrested at Glenorchy, he was incarcerated at the Hobart Gaol where Thomas Nevin photographed him in the week of 10 June 1873. … More Prisoner Thomas GRIFFIN

Prisoner John APPLEBY

January 19, 2009

The inscription ‘Taken at Port Arthur 1874” is Beattie’s confabulation of facts in the name of tourism. Beattie prepared copies of these prisoner cdv’s for display in his collection of Tasmanian convictaria at his “Port Arthur Museum” located at 51 Murray St. Hobart (and not at Port Arthur) to coincide with the first of two early 20th century film adaptations (1908-9, 22 minutes – see theatre poster below; the second was filmed at Port Arthur in 1927) of Marcus Clarke’s popular fiction For The Term of His Natural Life which appeared as a serial in 1870 and in novel form in 1874. Hence the date “1874” and the place “Taken at Port Arthur” written on the verso of this cdv when the actual date and the actual place of photographic capture were respectively 1873 and the Hobart Gaol in Campbell Street. Beattie fabricated this fake history for several dozen original mugshots taken in the 1870s by government contractor T. J. Nevin because he was required under the terms of his own commission as government contractor (from ca. 1900) to market photographic imagery of Tasmania’s penal heritage to the intercolonial tourist. The loose cdv’s such as this one of prisoner John Appleby were prepared for sale and exhibition at Sydney’s Royal Hotel in 1915 to be displayed as Port Arthur relics, alongside relics and documents associated with the fake convict hulk Success which visited Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. The collection of “convict portraits” held at the National Library of Australia Canberra and at the State Library of NSW in the Mitchell Collection are the estrays from these exhibitions. … More Prisoner John APPLEBY

Prisoner Leonard HAND

January 19, 2009

Locally-born Leonard Hand was a mere 26 years old. He was a special case for the chaplain of the prison, Rowland Hayward, and the surgeon Dr Coverdale who made a strong representation to the House of Assembly’s committee on penal discipline on Hand’s behalf in 1873, hoping to remove the prisoner from the isolation of the separate prison. It was evident to Dr Coverdale that rehabilitation was only possible if Hand (and others) were removed to the general prison community . … More Prisoner Leonard HAND

The Nevin group portrait and Nevin-Day wedding photographs 1871

January 6, 2009

It is possible that the man standing on Jack Nevin’s right was Thomas Nevin’s close friend and partner, photographer Samuel Clifford. If H. H. Baily attended the wedding, did he take this photograph, or was he one of the two remaining unidentified men? If the latter, then who was the fifth photographer present from Thomas Nevin’s cohort – i.e. not Thomas himself or his brother Jack Nevin, not H. H. Baily nor Samuel Clifford, so who took it? Alfred Bock, perhaps, on a visit from Victoria, who was Nevin’s former mentor and leasee of the City Photographic Establishment studio until his departure from Tasmania in 1867.

The two signatory witnesses on the marriage registration form were William Hanson, furniture dealer whose shop was located on the corner of Elizabeth and Warwick streets, Hobart (site of the former hotel the Black Prince), and Elizabeth’s younger sister and bridesmaid (both wore the same floral hair pin), standing at her left shoulder. There is also the possibility that one of the men standing was their father, Captain James Day (1808-1882); their mother, however, had died of consumption in 1857, leaving questions as to the identities of the other two women present. … More The Nevin group portrait and Nevin-Day wedding photographs 1871

Convict photographs (cartes-de-visite) by Thomas Nevin 1870s at the new NPG Canberra

December 7, 2008

Currently displayed in the A and S Liangis Gallery are six identification carte-de-visite photographs of Tasmanian convicts borrowed from the National Library of Australia with the correct attribution to the commercial and police photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) , and incorrect attribution to A. H. Boyd who was not a photographer, was not known as a photographer in his lifetime, and has no extant works in any public or private collection. … More Convict photographs (cartes-de-visite) by Thomas Nevin 1870s at the new NPG Canberra

Babette Smith on Australia’s Birthstain

November 8, 2008

The sources of the Archives Office information, photograph originals and copies were –

1. the materials donated from the Port Arthur kiosk (see extract above for details),
2. the collections of photographs taken by Nevin donated by the Allport Law firm as the Pretyman Collection,
3. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, where many more prisoner cartes were located amongst the Beattie Collection’s convict memorabilia, and exhibited there in 1977. … More Babette Smith on Australia’s Birthstain

The Medical Officer’s report of the Fairlie passengers 1852

November 7, 2008

Thomas James Nevin’s father, John Nevin snr, born in 1808 at Grey Abbey, County Down, Ireland, with service in the West Indies (1825-1838) and Canada (1839-1842), was one of 30 pensioner guards travelling with the 99th Regiment on board the Fairlie when it left Plymouth. Thomas’ mother Mary Ann Nevin nee Dickson was one of 24 women on board, and Thomas himself, together with his three younger siblings, Mary Ann, Rebecca Jane and William John were numbered among the 47 children. Among the convicts were 32 boys from the Parkhurst prison who had embarked at the Isle of Wight. The Principal Medical Officer, Dr Edward Nollett (also spelt as Nolleth) reported no serious medical incidents had occurred during the voyage. Yet one child was still-born, vaccinations were attempted (unspecified types), and two prisoners were found to be nearly blind on disembarkation. … More The Medical Officer’s report of the Fairlie passengers 1852

Thomas Nevin’s GHOST incident makes news in Maitland NSW

August 16, 2008

“The man in the centre of the road threw a reflection upon the one alongside the wall. The reflection was also upon the wall for a height of about 7 ft. Witness walked quickly towards the man in the road, and at the same time two men came stealthily out of George-street. Witness then commenced to run. One of those who came out of George-street said, “Come back, George.” Witness replied, “Don’t you see this fellow playing the ghost?” when the man in the middle of the road again threw a reflection upon the ghost. Witness arrested this man, who proved to be Nevin. The other two me pursued the man who had been acting as ghost. Nevin was taken to the police station, where he was searched at his own request. There was nothing that would account for the appearance of the ghost found upon him…” … More Thomas Nevin’s GHOST incident makes news in Maitland NSW

Nevins on sick list during voyage out on the Fairlie 1852

August 14, 2008

The Fairlie prepared for departure from the UK from the Isle of Wight on March 2, 1852, embarking convicts and juvenile exiles from the Parkhurst Prison. While conditions on board must have been rudimentary for women and children accompanying a crew member, for a mother and baby it must have been a floating hell. … More Nevins on sick list during voyage out on the Fairlie 1852

Heads of the People exhibition  NPG Canberra 2000

August 1, 2008

These three frames of 40 photographs in total were included in the exhibition Heads of the People, held at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, June to October, 2000, with a doubly erroneous attribution. Beattie’s name appears as the source, giving the impression that these are indeed HIS photographs, and that they were re-created by him “after” an earlier source, Adolarious Humphrey Boyd, the accountant and Commandant at the Port Arthur site from 1871-1873. Thomas J. Nevin was the original photographer of these 40 prints sourced from the QVMAG and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 2000. … More Heads of the People exhibition  NPG Canberra 2000

The first Rogues’ Galleries

July 22, 2008

“The public may not be aware that there is a photographic album at Scotland Yard, in which may be seen the carte of every ticket-of-leave man in the country … One carte de visite is kept in the police album at Scotland Yard, another at the station-house of the division of the metropolis in which he may select to reside, and a third is forwarded to any country district he may wish to remove to …” … More The first Rogues’ Galleries

Laterality: the poses in Nevin’s portraits

July 22, 2008

Photo historians in recent years have judged these 1870s Tasmanian prisoner cdv’s in terms that either attempt to aesthetise the photograph as an art history artefact (Chris Long, 1995), and therefore expect all the versos to display a studio stamp, for example, or situate them within a discourse of eugenics in similar manner to the appraisal of collections of Aboriginal portraits. In the 1990s some have attempted to impose a postmodern Marxist interpretation to underscore differentials of power and class, notably Isobel Crombie (2004) after Helen Ennis, (2000). … More Laterality: the poses in Nevin’s portraits

The PARKHURST prisoners & anthropometry

July 4, 2008

Tourists to Tasmania in the early 1900s were encouraged to disagree with this sort of thinking put forward in newspapers by Dr Goring. With the intense promotion of Tasmania’s penal heritage in the early 1900s, due largely to the release of the first of the two films based on Marcus Clarke’s 1874 novel, For The Term of His Natural Life (1908, 22 minutes), many Tasmanian prisoner identification photographs taken by Thomas J. Nevin on government contract to police and prison authorities in the 1870s were reprised by John Watt Beattie and Edward Searle for sale as tourist tokens in Beattie’s convictaria museum in the 1900s, called The Port Arthur Museum, although it was located in Hobart and not at Port Arthur. … More The PARKHURST prisoners & anthropometry

Map of Hobart Gaol 1860s

Melville Street from the Hobart Gaol 165 years ago

June 22, 2008

This stereograph, and others taken at the same time and place of the Prisoners Barracks (see below) are held at the State Library of Tasmania, and although unattributed, they were most likely taken by Thomas J. Nevin working with Alfred Bock between 1863-1866 at their studio, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart. The Nevin brothers’ association with the Hon. W. R. Giblin and the Hobart Gaol continued throughout the 1870s and 1880s while Thomas Nevin was contracted to the Municipal Police Office as prisons photographer, both as a commercial photographer and government contractor, and as a full-time civil servant. His principal studio, The City Photographic Establishment, was located one block away, close to the corner of Melville and Elizabeth Streets directly to the west. … More Melville Street from the Hobart Gaol 165 years ago

Prisoner Bewley TUCK can speak for himself

April 22, 2008

Read this article by Carolyn Strange in which she points to the fictionalisation of the past as the dominant modality of museological practice at the Port Arthur Historic Site. Convict Bewley Tuck’s fictive “voice-over” tale stands in for a new “interpretative” identity between museum and tourist. Thomas Nevin’s photograph of Tuck (ca. 1870), however, is not a construct but an artefact of the convict’s reality as both convict and photographer experienced it. A documentary original photograph is not the same thing at all as a contemporary “interpretation” of it. As one visitor remarked to Strange on leaving the display, “I prefer the real thing.” … More Prisoner Bewley TUCK can speak for himself

Photographers Thomas Nevin and Robert Smith, Hobart Tasmania, 1867-1868

April 21, 2008

Robert Smith may have operated a studio prior to his partnership with Nevin, as Mrs Esther Mather referred briefly to the “coloured ones from Smith’s” in a letter to her step-son, dated October 1865. On Robert Smith’s departure to Goulburn, NSW, where he opened a small photographic studio before taking  up farming and politics, Thomas Nevin pasted the verso of a few more photographs with the label bearing their name, but with Smith’s name struck through, and the word “Late”added. … More Photographers Thomas Nevin and Robert Smith, Hobart Tasmania, 1867-1868

Trademarks copyrighted for 14 years

March 11, 2008

Tasmanian photographers’ copyright of their work was regulated by the Registration of Trade Marks Act 28, No. 6, Victoria, from 1864. As this notice indicates, only two copies of their trade mark, applied to the “goods” they were intended to protect were required to be deposited with the Registrar. The applicant was issued with a one year Provisional Certificate, and if no objection was raised, the copyright endured absolute for a period of 14 years. Tasmanian artists wishing to register proprietorship of paintings, drawings, works of art, engravings and photographs were required to place their applications with Office of Copyright Registry of Victoria. … More Trademarks copyrighted for 14 years

DAA 1992 Kerr, J. ed

The A.H. Boyd misattribution at DAAO

March 10, 2008

The DAAO specifically states at this URL – http://www.daao.org.au/intro/about.html – that a person eligible for inclusion should meet these criteria:

Who classifies as an Australian Artist?
An Australian artist is defined as a person, living or dead, who:
— has a body of artistic work
— considers themselves to be an artist
— is considered by others to be an artist
— is a resident or citizen or is known as an Australian.

A.H. Boyd was NOT a photographer, NOT an Australian artist, NOT considered by himself or by others in his lifetime or subsequently to be classified as one, so WHY is the entry here in the DAAO? … More The A.H. Boyd misattribution at DAAO