Category: Newspapers

Ellen Tremaye and her transgender male identity Edward De Lacy Evans, cut and paste cdv

Confusion for the press, 1879: was she/he/they a female or a male “impersonator”?

March 1, 2024

Celebrating Mardi Gras 2024
The press in 1879 headlined their report about a woman who wore men’s clothing as a “female impersonator” when clearly the person in question, Ellen Tremaye (1830-1901), was living as a transgender man, or – to use the terminology of the day – she was “impersonating” a male not a female. Living as a man with the name Edward De Lacy Evans, Ellen Tremaye married three times: – to Mary Delahunty (m. 1856; Sep. 1862); to Sarah Moore (m. 1862; d. 1867) and to Julia Marquand (m. 1868). It was the birth of a daughter to Julia Marquand, fathered by her brother-in-law, that triggered Ellen/Edward’s mental distress and episode which resulted in a sentence to the Lunatic Ward where Ellen’s female biological sex was revealed. … More Confusion for the press, 1879: was she/he/they a female or a male “impersonator”?

Postcard 1930, diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginal group

Lost and found at the American War Mirror 1879

January 24, 2024

John Bachelder brought dioramas of the American Civil War to Hobart, and W. H. Thompson showed dioramas of both the American Civil War and the Zulu Wars. These were a staple of popular entertainment during the 1870s-1880s. Newspaper advertisements attracted huge crowds with enticements of free gifts including papier-mâché tables, work boxes, picture frames, new clothing, watches and baked cakes. The week ending February 14th, 1879, was an eventful one for Thomas J. Nevin. As Town Hall keeper he was contending with huge crowds attending performances of Thompson’s Diorama of the American War. An incident involving the loss of a purse and its restoration to its rightful owners was the result of Thomas Nevin’s due diligence.  … More Lost and found at the American War Mirror 1879

Citizens' Arch, Hobart, cdv by Thomas J. Nevin 8 Jan 1868

Thomas J. Nevin at the Citizens’ Arch, 8 January 1868

October 24, 2023

By 9 o’clock on the morning of Tuesday 8th January 1868, Thomas J. Nevin had set up his cameras in Liverpool Street, Hobart, facing the Citizen’s Arch as the crowds began forming in anticipation of the Duke of Edinburgh passing through on his way to Government House in Macquarie Street at midday. He may have been working on commision for the Citizens’ Arch designer and decorator, Charles E. Walch, partner in the family firm Walch & Sons Co., publishers of Walch’s Almanac and regular importers of photographic supplies. Well before the Duke’s arrival, Thomas Nevin took two photographs (extant) of the street and the Citizen’s Arch, each a minute or so apart from the same spot. Both photographs have survived. He would print a single image as a carte-de-visite of one of the captures as well as pasting the two slightly different captures of the scene side by side on a double mount to be viewed as a true stereograph with a stereoscopic viewer. … More Thomas J. Nevin at the Citizens’ Arch, 8 January 1868

Convict mugshots by T J Nevin 1870s

The Poulter album: “Weekly Courier” reprints 1900s of 1870s photographs by T. J. Nevin

May 3, 2023

The photographs in this album certainly belonged to Reginald Clifford Poulter by the time he compiled the album in the early 1900s, but none were taken by him, none are personal portraits of him or his family, and none are attributed to the original photographers, with the exception of one featuring the government photographer John Watt Beattie. Although several date from the early 1860s, very few are “real” photographs originating from the era in which they were produced. The majority are reprints which Poulter sourced from tourist destinations such as John Watt Beattie’s shop, photographic studio and convictaria museum in Murray Street, Hobart (and not at Port Arthur). Poulter’s other source was the Hobart Weekly Courier which published a Pictorial edition on Saturdays featuring beautifully reproduced photographs of contemporary events by living photographers. To save space, the Weekly Courier cropped each photograph to fit as many as possible on each page, only crediting their contracted studios, called their “Representatives” such as Beattie’s, or Spurling’s & Son, or Harvey and Sutcliffe’s, at the bottom of each page. Those photographs which Poulter cut from the Weekly Courier and pasted into his album were clearly already cropped of their cdv frame and mount and any accompanying photographer attribution. Instead, on each page of Poulter’s album there are pencilled inscriptions next to each  item giving information about the content or subject of each photograph and no more, written by an anonymous hand. … More The Poulter album: “Weekly Courier” reprints 1900s of 1870s photographs by T. J. Nevin

Letter to Mercury 1961 re cdv of Tasmanian Aborigines in Nevin family collections

Lost and found: one day in 1866 and the scientific racism which followed

August 30, 2021

In August 1866 at his Hobart studio, 42 Macquarie Street, photographer Charles A. Woolley (1834-1922) would ask of his three sitters, Truganini, William Lanney and Bessy Clark, to bear with him while he rearranged their clothing, repositioned the studio decor, swapped their seating, and gave instructions as to sightlines. This short session, perhaps no more than an hour, resulted in a series consisting of at least four full-length portraits of the trio as a group, each slightly different in configuration and composition. The earliest example to survive from this session, an original carte-de-visite produced by Charles A. Woolley before 1869, has surfaced in the family collections of Woolley’s young contemporary, Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923). … More Lost and found: one day in 1866 and the scientific racism which followed

Charles Dickens', The Old Curiosity Shop, Chapter 16

Captain Edward Goldsmith and friends, 1849

June 20, 2021

Francis Knowles, the reporter on the Hobart Courier who did attend Captain Goldsmith’s testimonial that Wednesday in January 1849, was well-known to barrister Edward Macdowell. Back in February 1846 Edward Macdowell had defended a Frenchman, Oscar Tondeur, who was accused of assaulting Francis Knowles – of whipping him about the shoulders, according to one account – because of a published article about the New Norfolk Regatta which Tondeur was led to believe was intended to ridicule his mannerisms and command of the English language. Knowles had likened him to the Punch and Judy “foreign gentleman” character that gained his name from the only utterance  he could muster – “Shallabalah”. The case raised laughter when heard at the Police Office, Hobart Town Hall, where Edwin Midwood, police information clerk, eagerly corroborated barrister Macdowell’s argument in lieu of the “certain ladies” who told Tondeur the slur was indeed Knowle’s intention. Always up for mischief, this was the same Edwin Midwood who most likely contributed to photographer Thomas J. Nevin’s dismissal from the position of Keeper at the Hobart Town Hall in December 1880 when Nevin was thought to be the “ghost” frightening the girls of Hobart Town at night dressed in a white sheet. Since Edwin Midwood never confessed to the prank, he is remembered principally nowadays as the father of another humourist, cartoonist Tom Midwood. … More Captain Edward Goldsmith and friends, 1849

Edward Macdowell

Captain Goldsmith’s “private friend” Edward Macdowell 1840s

June 14, 2021

In January 1849 Elizabeth Rachel Nevin’s uncle, merchant mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith, was presented with a silver goblet as a token of appreciation for his services to the colony of Van Diemen’s Land’s horticultural enterprises. The occasion was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, 17th January 1849 with Captain Goldsmith’s “private friend”, barrister Edward Macdowell, nominated to make the presentation, but he was otherwise “engaged in Court.” Edward Macdowell was at the Supreme Court Hobart acting as counsel in the defense of John Buchanan, charged with the rape of a six year old child, reported in the press as either Mary Ann Challenor or Challender. A technical error on the part of the judge in this instance led to a pardon pending for the rapist John Buchanan. It was noted he had been capitally convicted of a similar offence in England but escaped punishment “by a technical error”. He managed again to escape the death sentence in the Hobart Supreme Court on a judicial error. … More Captain Goldsmith’s “private friend” Edward Macdowell 1840s

Prisoner Henry Stock 1883 photo by T. J. Nevin

The case against Henry Stock (var. Stocks) 1884 for the murder of his wife and her child

February 20, 2021

“EXECUTION OF STOCK.
The execution of Henry Stock, who was convicted at the last Criminal Sessions of the murder of his wife and child, took place at 8 o’clock this morning, in the presence of Messrs. Seager, the Deputy Sheriff; Quodling, the Governor of the Gaol ; Hedberg, Sub Inspector of the Territorial Police ; Smith, the Under Gaoler : Rev. Geo. W. Shoobridge, Chaplain to the Gaol ; Rev. T. M. O’Callaghan ; the members of the Press, and the gaol officials. On Mr Seager asking Stock whether he had anything to say, he replied, ‘All I have to say is that I am innocent.’ When asked whether he had any message he would like taken to anybody, he replied ‘ .No.’ He was then pinioned by Solomon Blay, and he followed Mr Shoobridge to the drop. The condemned man appeared somewhat faint, but his step was firm, and he walked on to the platform bravely and exhibited no signs of breaking down. In his right hand he carried a little bunch of flowers with the following text attached : ‘ He shall speak peace unto the heathen.’ He then mounted the platform, the white cap was placed over his head, the bolt drawn, and the unfortunate man launched into eternity. The operation took over three minutes, Mr Shoobridge continuing the prayer during the whole time. Whilst in gaol Stock was respectful to all the officials. Up to the time of his death he made no confession. On Sunday night his rest was partially disturbed, but this morning he eat [sic – ate] a hearty breakfast of fish. The body was cut down after an hour’s time and examined by Dr. Turnley, who pronounced the body to be dead. His remains were conveyed at 11 o’clock to Cornelian Bay. Mr A. J. Taylor took cast of his head.” … More The case against Henry Stock (var. Stocks) 1884 for the murder of his wife and her child

Madame Carandini and family

James McEvoy’s fine fabrics ex Captain Goldsmith’s “Parrock Hall” Sydney 1845

July 23, 2020

“ALBERT HOUSE,
PITT-STREET.
JAMES M’EVOY, in returning thanks to his friends and patrons for the very liberal patronage bestowed upon him since his commencement in business, hastens to inform them that he has just opened, ex Parrock Hall, a splendid description of goods, consisting of – First rate West of England blue and black cloths; Buckskins, black and white check cassimeres; The most splendid description of shawl pattern vestings; Washing satins, and silk velvets; Figured and plain satins, for scarfs or waitscoats; Corded silk ditto, buff cassimeres. An immense assortment of ducks and drills, unequalled in the colony for strength and durability. And a most splendid assortment of cloths and trimmings for ladies’ riding habits. J. M. also begs to inform the aristocracy and gentry of Australia, that he has in his possession a collection of
LIVERY BUTTONS, With crests belonging to the leading families in New South Wales; and being the only holder of the above in Sydney, he feels proud in asserting that no other house can furnish them. He also respectfully offers his services in procuring from England any crest button which may be attached to a family, at a trifling expense… ”
… More James McEvoy’s fine fabrics ex Captain Goldsmith’s “Parrock Hall” Sydney 1845

Nurse Elsie Cameron

Death of Constable John Nevin in the typhoid epidemic of 1891

April 10, 2020

“During the years 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1891, the City of Hobart, in common with the principal cities of Australia, was visited by a most severe and extraordinary epidemic wave of typhoid fever. Although, locally the General death-rate from all causes, and for all ages, was not materially increased above the years preceding the epidemic, still the mortality of persons in the prime of life, especially males between the ages of 20 and 35 years, was unusually large. The alarm caused by this severe visitation very naturally raised a keen enquiry into the sanitary condition of the city ; and many intelligent persons, believing that the epidemic was mainly or solely due to local causes, and particularly to defective drainage and other imperfect sanitary provisions, have since made vigorous and continuous demands for a drastic reform of our sanitary system….” … More Death of Constable John Nevin in the typhoid epidemic of 1891

Prisoner John NOWLAN alias DOWLING

Prisoner John NOWLAN alias DOWLING 1870-1876

June 26, 2019

This prisoner stated that he arrived free in Tasmania as a sailor on the Bangalore with the name John Dowling, but he might have arrived as a convict with the name John Nowlan on the transport London in March 1851. Shipping documents testifying to his arrival on the Bangalore at any port and under any circumstance unfortunately, if true, are not extant. He was sentenced to five years in March 1870 for indecent assault as John Dowling. He was photographed as John Dowling by T. J. Nevin on release from the House of Corrections, Hobart in December 1874, and convicted again in February 1875 for larceny. A year later, in February 1876 he was convicted at the Supreme Court, Hobart, for rape of a girl between 10-11 yrs old, this time as John Nowlan, alias John Dowling. The sentence for rape was death, commuted to life imprisonment. John Nowlan alias John Dowling was sent to the Port Arthur prison on 25th February 1876 and transferred back to the House of Corrections, Hobart Gaol, Campbell St. on 17th April 1877. A prisoner who called himself John Dowling died at the New Town Charitable Institution, Hobart in 1906 of senilis. … More Prisoner John NOWLAN alias DOWLING 1870-1876

Prisoner James ROGERS forges into the leap year 1868

January 9, 2019

Lavington George Roope deposed : I am a clerk of the Bank Of Australasia, in Hobart Town. The note produced is a £1 note of our bank which has been altered to a £5 note. In the right hand corner the figure 1 has been erased and the word “Five” has been written in. One of the numbers has also been erased in two places. The O and part of the N in the body of the note have been erased, and an F and an I have been substituted. The letter S has been added to the word pound. The word ” at” has been erased in the body of the note. The words one pound in the left hand bottom corner of the note have been erased, and the words five pounds have been written in in old English letters. In the genuine £5 notes these words are in old English letters. The letters O and part of the N printed in green across the note have been erased, and the letters F and I have been substituted, making the word ” Five”. I can trace the erasures in most places but not distinctly in the large letters. … More Prisoner James ROGERS forges into the leap year 1868

Thomas Nevin’s photographic reduction of large documents 1870s

November 24, 2018

Thomas Nevin’s photographic reductions of large printed documents to the size of a carte-de-visite  – 54.0 mm (2.125 in) × 89 mm (3.5 in) mounted on a card sized 64 mm (2.5 in) × 100 mm (4 in) – “evoked much admiration” when reported in the press. His first noted experiment in 1870 was the replication to a pocket sized card of the Town Clerk’s poster which provided the public with information on how to interpret fire bell alarms. The second was the reduction of the front page of the Mercury a day before the Christmas Eve edition, 23rd December 1874, printed as a gift card. Although examples of these photographic reductions might be read with the naked eye, some experiments, such as those by Nevin’s more senior contemporary, Charles A. Woolley, which required viewing with a magnifying glass, would more likely be described as microform cards, using the methods of microphotography pioneered by John Benjamin Dancer (1812–1887). Dancer’s miniaturized photographs of texts in 1857 heralded the use of microphotography for the storage of large documents and records held in the archives of courts, libraries, and government departments. The reverse photographic method, enlarging microscopic material such as bacteria, is more precisely termed photomicrography. … More Thomas Nevin’s photographic reduction of large documents 1870s

The Monarch, River Derwent 1880s

Thomas Nevin and the Terpsichoreans, New Norfolk 1867

November 5, 2017

If the newspaper report is at all accurate, these excursionists danced up a storm. They never stopped. They danced on the bridge, accompanied by a brass band, whatever bridge that may have been, and they danced non-stop on board the Monarch steaming its way up the River Derwent until they reached their destination. Once at Shoobridge’s, they continued dancing non-stop for hours in the hop room, and then moved out to the paddock where they not only danced, they played a game called “kiss the ring” [?]. On the homeward journey, aboard the Monarch, their dancing reached fever-pitch – or, as the reporter phrased it, “all went merry as a marriage peal”.  The merriment of the New Norfolk excursionists was captured by Thomas Nevin with three photographs, according to the newspaper report, so where are the photographs now? The only extant photograph of dancers identified as Thomas Nevin’s  is this one, printed as a stereograph on a buff mount, and labelled verso with the firm’s name – … More Thomas Nevin and the Terpsichoreans, New Norfolk 1867

John Nevin’s poem on the death of James William Chisholm 1863

November 1, 2017

Here is another beautifully crafted poem by John Nevin snr (1808-1887), father of Tasmanian photographer Thomas J. Nevin, the earliest to date of his poetry written in Tasmania to surface in public collections and press publications. This poem was penned to lament the premature death of his dear friend James William Chisholm (1802-1862) with whom he served in the Royal Scots First or Royal Regiment in the West Indies and at the Canadian Rebellions from 1827 to discharge in 1841. The lament was published in the Weekly Times (Hobart Town, Tas.), Saturday 29 August 1863, page 6. … More John Nevin’s poem on the death of James William Chisholm 1863

Thomas Nevin’s Christmas feat 1874

December 24, 2016

A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEAT. – Mr T. J. Nevin, of Elizabeth-street, has performed a feat in photography which may be justly regarded as a literary curiosity. He has succeeded in legibly producing the front page of The Mercury of Wednesday, the 23 inst., on a card three inches by two inches. Many of the advertisements could be read without the aid of a glass, and the seven columns admit of a margin all round the card. … More Thomas Nevin’s Christmas feat 1874

Prisoner Peter KILLEEN

Thomas Nevin’s glass plates of prisoners 1870s

August 5, 2015

One example of excessive damage to the original glass plate is evident in this print taken from the negative of Nevin’s only sitting with prisoner Peter Killeen in the week preceding the 20th January, 1875, when Killeen was discharged from the Hobart Gaol. He was given a life sentence for assault and robbery in 1856, and when discharged in 1875 with a ticket-of-leave, he was 64 yrs old. He subsequently re-offended, was sentenced to a further 6 weeks and discharged again on 29 September 1875. Peter Killeen offended again within six months of discharge. He was given a sentence of seven (7) years for larceny at the Supreme Court Hobart on 8th March, 1876, sent to the Port Arthur prison, arriving there on 6th April, 1876, and transferred back to the Hobart Gaol on 17th April, 1877. Peter Killeen died from senile decay, aged 76 yrs, as a Prisoner of the Crown at the Hobart Gaol on 27th June, 1889. See originals of these records here.

The only image, whether extant as duplicates of the carte-de-visite or negative prints surviving from Peter Killeen’s criminal sentences is the one taken by Thomas Nevin at his single sitting with the prisoner in January 1875. The scratched condition of the glass plate by the time of Killeen’s death in 1889 at the Hobart Gaol is evidence of repeated use, the print showing even more wear and tear than the other 39 prints used by Beattie for the line-up of 40 on his three panels created in 1915. … More Thomas Nevin’s glass plates of prisoners 1870s

Captain Edward Goldsmith and the patent slip 1855

November 4, 2014

Failure of trust had marked Captain Goldsmith’s experiences with Hobartonians since the year of departure of his good friend, Lieutenant-Governor Sir John Franklin and his wife Jane Franklin in 1843. Sir William Denison, the Colony’s governor in 1849 was most enthusiastic about Captain Goldsmith’s plans for a patent slip, but the government’s refusal to recompense him fully for expenses in building the twin steamer the Kangaroo, had already led to major disappointment. The final insult came with the government not meeting their own terms of agreement in promising assistance to build the patent slip. … More Captain Edward Goldsmith and the patent slip 1855

Constable Blakeney’s revenge on Thomas Nevin 1880

August 5, 2014

Within a week of being reinstated, Blakeney was intent on compromising Nevin. He had most likely coerced the other two constables, Oakes and Priest, to invent the story that “the ghost” had appeared in Nevin’s company, since their witness accounts were not consistent. Nevin denied having seen anyone dressed in a white sheet. Blakeney’s demotion was the result of intoxication, and he was intent on making Nevin suffer the same fate when he sought out Nevin on the night of the arrest. … More Constable Blakeney’s revenge on Thomas Nevin 1880

Captain Goldsmith’s humorous remark at Wm Bunster’s dinner 1841

August 2, 2014

Captain William Bunster (1793-1854) – a successful merchant and one of the earliest colonists of Van Diemen's Land – was given a convivial farewell dinner at the Union Club in Hobart, Tasmania, which The Mercury reported in some detail on March 2nd, 1841. The occasion was to mark his final farewell to the colony; he was not to know at that dinner that he would be returning within two years.

Among the 35 or so members at the dinner was Elizabeth Rachel Nevin's uncle, Captain Edward Goldsmith, master and commander of the barque, the Wave on which the Bunster family (his wife Anna and four sons) would voyage to England, departing on 14th March and arriving on 22 July 1841. … More Captain Goldsmith’s humorous remark at Wm Bunster’s dinner 1841

Captain Edward Goldsmith in Davey Street Hobart 1854

May 17, 2014

Paternal uncle and benefactor of Thomas J. Nevin’s wife, Elizabeth Rachel Day was the much respected master mariner and merchant Captain Edward Goldsmith (1804-1869), who first arrived in Van Diemen’s land in 1830 and departed never to return in 1856. He retired to his estate at Gad’s Hill, Higham, Kent, UK, where novelist Charles Dickens became a neighbour in 1857 when he purchased a house at No. 6 Gadshill Place.

Captain Goldsmith did not become a colonist, nor did he profit directly from convict transportation. His many and varied services and contributions – some at his own expense – during those years to the mercantile, horticultural and shipping development of the colony were inestimable. He built a patent slip on the Queen’s Domain and a vehicular steam ferry,  the Kangaroo, n 1854, sat on civic committees, established a marine insurance company, and set up a permanent residence for his family at lower Davey Street, Hobart, although he was away at sea for most of every year. The playwright and journalist David Burn who met him in Sydney in 1845, noted in his diary that Captain Goldsmith’s turnaround was eight months … More Captain Edward Goldsmith in Davey Street Hobart 1854

Waxwork of Trucanini, Madam Tussaud Sydney

Constable John Nevin at Trucanini’s funeral 1876

January 25, 2014

Constable John Nevin (1852-1891), brother of photographer Thomas J. Nevin, joined the civil service as an 18 year old in 1870 and was stationed at the Cascades Gaol and Reformatory until transferred to the Hobart Gaol in 1877. He was on duty at the burial of Trucanini regarded in that era as the “last Tasmanian Aboriginal”, on 10th-11th May 1876 at the Cascades cemetery. Located on a patch of ground -“a vacant spot opposite the Cascades” as the press described it (South Australian Register 12 May 1876) – that patch is now identified as No. 2, Nevin Street . … More Constable John Nevin at Trucanini’s funeral 1876

Lady Franklin Museum, Hobart Tasmania

John Watt Beattie and the Nevin family legacy

January 15, 2014

The friendship between these two photographers, Thomas J. Nevin and John Watt Beattie extended back to 1887 on the death of Thomas Nevin’s father, John Nevin at the family house and farm adjacent to the Lady Franklin Museum at Kangaroo Valley (renamed Lenah Valley in 1922). It had long been a wish of John Nevin that the Franklin Museum be restored to its original purpose when first built on Jane Franklin’s land, named Ancanthe, as a library and botanical museum, but by 1887, it was little more than a storage shed for local orchardists and farmers. As a gesture towards reviving John Nevin’s wish, before his own death in 1930, John Watt Beattie approached the Hobart City Council with a proposal to house his vast convictaria collection in the Lady Franklin Museum at Kangaroo Valley (Lenah Valley) but the Hobart City Council declined. … More John Watt Beattie and the Nevin family legacy

Departure of Captain Goldsmith and the 99th Regiment 1855

January 13, 2014

A Grand Ball was held at the Victoria Theatre, Hobart on 20th December 1855 in honour of the service rendered to the colony by the 99th Regiment on the eve of their final departure, attended by Captain Goldsmith among a distinguished group of invitees.

The First Waltz on the Programme, “Les Adieux,” was composed by Miss J. V. Smith for the occasion of the “Departure of the 99th Regt. from Hobart Town”. … More Departure of Captain Goldsmith and the 99th Regiment 1855

Prisoner Robert aka James OGDEN, photographed by Nevin 1875

June 15, 2013

This photograph – a standard 1870s carte-de-visite prisoner mugshot in an oval mount produced by Thomas J. Nevin – has escaped the attention of photo-historians of the 1870s Tasmanian prisoners’ identification photographs, the so-called “Convict portraits, Port Arthur 1874” labelled and catalogued as such in Australian national collections, viz. the National Library of Australia, Canberra, the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart and the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. It belongs to the same series of fine albumen prints in oval mounts of prisoners taken by commercial and police photographer Thomas J. Nevin for the HCC Municipal Police Office and Hobart Gaol authorities from 1872 to the mid 1880s. … More Prisoner Robert aka James OGDEN, photographed by Nevin 1875

Mr Lipscombe, Captain Goldsmith and the Mammoth Strawberry

April 21, 2013

MR LIPSCOMBE and CAPTAIN GOLDSMITH
Elizabeth Nevin’s uncle, Captain Edward Goldsmith, master mariner of merchant ships from London to the colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania)from the 1830s until his retirement back in Kent (UK) in 1856, and Hobart businessman and nurseryman Frederick Lipscombe, had maintained a friendly and profitable business relationship over twenty years until one day in June 1853, they had a very public falling-out over the Mammoth Strawberry, or so it seemed at first blush. … More Mr Lipscombe, Captain Goldsmith and the Mammoth Strawberry

Disambiguation: James Day 52 yrs old and transported to VDL 1836

April 15, 2013

DISAMBIGUATION: Three James Day names
Right at the outset we stress that this James Day was not a relative of photographer Thomas Nevin’s wife Elizabeth Rachel Day, nor was he related to her father by the name of Captain James Day, master mariner, who was born on 6 June 1806 in Yorkshire and died in Hobart on 17 November 1882, nor to Captain James Day’s first cousin, Captain Henry James Day of the 99th Regiment, guard captain of the Candahar 1842.

However, while researching the name “James Day”, the Old Bailey trial records and the transportation records of another “James Day” surfaced, a Londoner aged 52yrs old, who was transported for seven years to VDL on board the ship Sarah in 1836. Not many men of his advanced years were transported. These are his records and his story up to his death in 1863. … More Disambiguation: James Day 52 yrs old and transported to VDL 1836

Captain Edward Goldsmith and the McGregor family

March 6, 2013

The patent slip at the Queen’s Domain in Hobart was established by Elizabeth Rachel Nevin’s uncle, Captain Edward Goldsmith, in 1854 from machinery he brought out from London on his favorite trading barque Rattler . He obtained a long lease on the foreshore of the Domain to lay the slip on the condition that the terms of the lease were fulfilled. When he withdrew from the lease in 1855 due to the death of his 25 yr old son Richard Sydney Goldsmith only months earlier, among other reasons to do with costs and prison labor, Captain Alexander McGregor bought Captain Goldsmith’s interest. … More Captain Edward Goldsmith and the McGregor family

The Odd Fellows’ Hall photograph 1871

June 26, 2011

“THE ODD FELLOWS’ HALL – A very fine photograph of the Odd Fellows’ Hall (corner of Davey and Harrington-streets) has been taken for the Society by Mr. Nevin, of Elizabeth-street. The view is taken from Davey-street, opposite the corner of the Freemasons’ Hotel, and thus shows the entrance to the rooms, with the whole front and side of the buildings. A well-known member of the institution, and a less known youth, have come within the range of the camera, and their presence greatly assists in conveying an idea of the dimensions of the hall. The picture is undoubtedly creditable to the artist.” … More The Odd Fellows’ Hall photograph 1871

Hobart Town Hall, Tasmania, erected 1864

Chiniquy rioters injuring the Town Hall 1879

May 14, 2011

The eight rioters “were charged with riotously injuring a building”, “riotously injuring the Town Hall” and specifically – “the breaking open of the ante-room of the Town Hall” . The charges would have incurred a severe penal code punishment of seven years’ imprisonment and a trial at the Supreme Court. However, Attorney-General Giblin sought to substitute the charge with the lesser one of disturbing the peace, and at this sitting, reported in The Mercury on 11th July 1879, the charges were withdrawn entirely because of Giblin’s concern with excessive costs involved in such a trial.

… More Chiniquy rioters injuring the Town Hall 1879

The Photographer’s wife at the studio

August 3, 2010

In 1944, the French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) published a short story called The Photographer’s Wife (La Dame du Photographe 1944), in which Mme Armand, the wife of the photographer – he who is referred to by their neighbour as “little old Big Eyes” – attempts suicide, some might think for an adulterous liaison, while she herself explains the reason as an unbearably trivial life. The drug she self-administers is not named, but at the moment when old Big Eyes raises the alarm, his hands are “all covered with hyposulphite” from a broken bottle in the studio. Hyposulphite was used in daguerreotype, ambrotype and collodion photography, one of several photochemicals including arsenic and cyanide with ready appeal to a self-poisoner. Elizabeth Rachel Day’s life as the wife of photographer Thomas J. Nevin in colonial Tasmania was very different from Colette’s literary portrait. However, from her marriage in 1871 until her husband’s residential appointment at the Hobart Town Hall in 1876, she lived and slept above a veritable factory of poisonous chemicals stored and used in her husband’s studio, a double-windowed building and glasshouse with the business name of The City Photographic Establishment, located at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart. … More The Photographer’s wife at the studio

Samuel Page’s Royal Mail coach

July 14, 2010

Samuel Page held the government contracts for the Royal Mail coach deliveries between Hobart and Launceston, and contracted Nevin for photographic advertisements of his coachline. Samuel Page lived at Belle Vue, New Town, a villa with stables, paddocks and gardens. He transported prisoners under government contract from regional stations and courts to be “received” at H.M. Gaol, Hobart, accompanied by constables. … More Samuel Page’s Royal Mail coach

John Nevin in the Royal Scots at the Canadian Rebellion 1837-38

June 5, 2010

MOTTO of the ROYAL SCOTS
“Nemo me impune Lacessit”. “No-one touches me with impunity” (or “Dinna mess wi’ me!”)
“DEATH OF AN OLD VETERAN.- There passed away very quietly on Sunday, 9th inst., at the good old age of 79, Mr. John Nevin, who for the last 30 years has lived in the secluded shades of Kangaroo Valley, adjoining Lady Franklin’s old Museum. He lived a retired life on his pension and in working his plot of garden ground at the Wesleyan Chapel, enjoying the respect of all in the neighbourhood as a consistent Christian. His latter days were spent in quietness among his family, and he leaves a widow (a second wife) and two sons and several grandchildren in Hobart. Only a fortnight ago two friends of his, who were boys in the Royals, and had known him in Canada 50 years ago, paid him a visit, and a pleasant time was spent with him in recounting feats of valour long since almost forgotten. He was then enjoying good health, but last Wednesday, while working in his garden, he felt tired, and rested awhile on the damp ground, which caused a chill. He took to his bed, and, after three days’ sickness, quietly joined the majority. In his day he was a wielder of the pen as well as of the sword, and was some 50 years ago a contributor to the infant Press in London, Canada West, when the present city of that name was a struggling town of rough and rude buildings and log huts. As a soldier of the Royal Scots he served under his colonel, Sir G.A. Wetherall, and the present Sir Daniel Lyons [i.e. Lysons] was his ensign; and he did his duty in very stirring times in the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-1838. He was engaged in the storming and capture of St.Charles and St. Eustache and in engagements of St. Dennis, St. Benoit, and many other operations on the Richelieu River and adjacent country of Chambly, and at Terra-Bone [i.e. Terrebonne] he assisted in the capture of a large number of French prisoners during a severe winter campaign, often struggling with his comrades to the waist in snow in following his officers in the work of quelling the rebellion of Papineau. John Nevin’s proudest boast was that he had been a soldier of the Royals.” (The Mercury, 11 October 1887). … More John Nevin in the Royal Scots at the Canadian Rebellion 1837-38

Watering the Town Hall trees too “infra dig”  for the caretaker

May 24, 2010

On a dry Spring afternoon, a day or so before 19th September, 1879, a reporter at The Mercury newspaper office looked out his window and across the street to the Hobart Town Hall, sized up the state of the saplings struggling to survive in front of the portico, and sat down to pen a vituperative paragraph about the “caretaker” who, he insinuated, considered himself above a task as trivial as watering the trees. … More Watering the Town Hall trees too “infra dig”  for the caretaker

The Excelsior Coal Mine at New Town 1874

May 16, 2010

Mr Nevin, photographer, Elizabeth-street, appears in this advertisement as an agent able to take orders for the delivery of coal from the Excelsior Coal Mine which was located on Mr Ebenezer Sims property at Kangaroo Bottom (Kangaroo Valley New Town), in close proximity to the home of Nevin’s parents. This coal was for domestic use but may have been included in the coal specimens which were exported to the Royal Colonial Institute, accompanied by James Boyd on board the Ethel in 1874. … More The Excelsior Coal Mine at New Town 1874

A first-class faithful Likeness, February 1873

April 4, 2010

Personal friendships, mutual business support and Lodge affiliations ensured priority and preference, and in Thomas Nevin’s case, his family solicitor, Attorney-General W.R. Giblin, and his Loyal United Brothers membership played a key role in the offer to provide the Municipal and Territorial Police, and the Prisons Department with identification photographs of convicted criminals. “A first-class faithful likeness” is exactly what the police wanted of the prisoner and ex-convict population. … More A first-class faithful Likeness, February 1873

Dr Edward Crowther 1880

Thomas Nevin and the Loyal United Brothers Lodge

March 27, 2010

“ODD FELLOWS’ ANNIVERSARY. The eleventh anniversary of the Loyal Tasmania’s Hope Lodge, of the Manchester Unity, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was celebrated last evening by a tea and concert, at the Alliance Rooms. The tea, which was satisfactorily got up, having been disposed of, it was proposed by P. G. M. Mitchell, and seconded by P. P. G. M. Noah, that Mr. Davies, M.H.A., do take the chair, which was passed unanimously. The Chair-man was supported by the Provincial and other Officers of the Order, who wore their insignia. Mr. Davies wore the insignia of the G.M. of the A. 1.0.0. F. There was present a visiting officer of the M.U. from Queensland, P. P. G. M., H. E. Wright, who wore a handsome gold medal, presented to him by members of the Order in Brisbane, in acknowledgment of his services in introducing Odd Fellowship into Queensland, where there are two districts, Brisbane and Rockhampton, numbering five hundred members, who had been enrolled since Mr. Wright went to that colony in 1863….” … More Thomas Nevin and the Loyal United Brothers Lodge

Constable W. J. Nevin at inquest 1882

February 10, 2010

Jack Nevin was his elder brother’s assistant at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street during Thomas’ commissions as police photographer in prisons and police courts. He helped maintain one of their photographic studios in New Town, assisting in the production of stereographs and studio portraits on cartes-de-visite intermittently from the 1860s. He was employed at the Hobart Gaol under the supervision of the keeper Ringrose Atkins from 1874, and became a Constable on salary at the male prison at Cascades and H.M. Prison, Hobart in 1875, serving until his untimely death at age 39 in 1891. … More Constable W. J. Nevin at inquest 1882

Thos. Jas. Nevin sr, John Perkins jr, and W.R. Giblin

January 26, 2010

On or about the 1st December 1874, Thomas J. Nevin pledged his support in the upcoming Hobart Municipal Council elections for Alderman candidate John Perkins Junior Esq. The Mercury newspaper customarily printed these formal pledges as a discursive solicitation by the supporters, and then provided a lengthy list of their names every week until the close of the election. … More Thos. Jas. Nevin sr, John Perkins jr, and W.R. Giblin

Christmas 1874: Thomas Nevin’s photographic feat

December 25, 2009

Seasons Greetings 2009 to all our readers, researchers, contributors and extended family.

Visitors to Thomas J. Nevin’s weblogs on 2nd January 2010 at midday:
On Christmas Day, 25th December 1874, The Mercury newspaper (Tasmania) published a notice which served the dual purpose of praising Nevin’s photographic talents and suggesting by way of praise that the “literary curiosity” would make a great gift as a Christmas card: … More Christmas 1874: Thomas Nevin’s photographic feat

19th century prison photography: Tasmania 1872

October 1, 2009

When Thomas Nevin sat down to read the Mercury on the morning of 24th October 1872 and turned to an article reprinted from the London papers on “the valuable working of the Prevention of Crimes Act, or as it is better known, the Habitual Criminals Act” of 1871, he was more than aware of the use of photography by police. He had already taken photographs of prisoners at the Hobart Gaol at the behest of his solicitor and mentor since 1868, Attorney-General William Robert GIBLIN. … More 19th century prison photography: Tasmania 1872