William Sawyer, also known as Sayer(s), arrived in Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) on the Chapman in 1824, transported for seven years for theft of money. When Thomas J. Nevin photographed him for police records in 1875 at the termination of a sentence passed in 1868 at the Supreme Court Hobart of ten years for sheep stealing, he was 76 yrs old. … More Prisoner William SAWYER or SAYER(s) 1875
Charles Garfitt’s photograph was reproduced in duplicate by Nevin from his original negative taken at the Supreme Court sittings and Oyer sessions , per government regulations (up to 25 were required in NSW). This one may be a loose duplicate, but it is unlikely to ever have existed without being pasted to Garfitt’s prison record, whether in a regional police office, or at the Hobart Gaol and the Office of Police, Hobart Town Hall. It was removed and transcribed with “Port Arthur” and “1874” in order to attract tourists to the Port Arthur site itself in the 1890s, and to John Watt Beattie’s convictaria museum in Hobart in particular in the early 1900s. … More Prisoner Charles GARFITT and the QVMAG
In 1884, the Colonial Government of Tasmania changed the name of its weekly police gazette to Tasmania Police Gazette for Police Information Only. The cover of each issue prior to 1884 was headed Tasmania Reports of Crime For Police Information (and the alternative – Information for Police) which was published by the government printer James Barnard dating back to its first appearance in 1861 … More Good reading for The Kid 1921 : Tasmanian police gazettes
Who were they? They were T.J. Nevin’s sitters for police records, mostly “Supreme Court men” photographed on committal for trial at the Supreme Court adjoining the Hobart Gaol when they were isolated in silence for a month after sentencing. If sentenced for a long term at the Supreme Court Launceston, they were photographed, bathed, shaved and dressed on being received in Hobart. These procedures, past and present, were reported at length by a visitor to the Hobart Gaol and Supreme Court in The Mercury, 8th July 1882 … … More The Supreme Court mugshots taken by T. J. Nevin from 1871 onwards
Between 1876 and 1886, transitional years in the history of 19th century prison photography, changes took place in the way Thomas Nevin posed the prisoner and printed the final mugshot. The technology changed too. Lenses after 1875 enabled a closer or larger image of the face. The prisoner was also posed closer to the camera in a full frontal position facing the photographer, and although the oval mount was still the preferred format for printing, square frames were also used. The formalised front and profile pair of portraits using the methods of Bertillonage did not appear in Tasmanian prison photography until the late 1890s, by which time Thomas Nevin had ceased professional photography and his younger brother John Nevin was deceased. … More Nevin’s mugshots: the transitional pose and frame
Thomas Kelly was arrested and photographed by Nevin at the Hobart Gaol on 2 November 1873. … More Prisoner Thomas KELLY
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 … More Cartes-de-visite photographs of convicts by Nettleton and Nevin
Tasmanian photographer | Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) 
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