Showing posts with label Hobart Town Hall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hobart Town Hall. Show all posts

Lost and found at the American War Mirror 1879

Thomas J. NEVIN, Hobart Town Hall Keeper 1876-1880
WHITTINGTON's Panoramas of Dickens' life and work
BACHELDER's dioramas of the American Civil War
THOMPSON's dioramas of the American Civil War and Zulu War
Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginal Group at campfire 1930s, medallion of 1976

1876-1880: Thomas J. Nevin, Keeper of the Hobart Town Hall
Professional photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) was appointed to the position of Hobart Town Hall Keeper in January 1876 over 24 applicants. He took up residence in the Keeper's apartment (top of diagram below) with wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin (1847-1914) and the first two of their seven children - Mary Florence Elizabeth (aka May) Nevin (1872-1955) and Thomas James (aka Sonny) Nevin (1874-1948). Three more children were born at the Hobart Town Hall - Sydney John Nevin who died within months of birth (1876-1877), William John Nevin (1878-1927) and George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957). Their sixth child Mary Ann (aka Minnie) Nevin (1884-1974) and seventh, Albert Edward Nevin (1888-1955) were born after their father's dismissal for alleged inebriation from the position of Town Hall Keeper in December 1880. Family BDM documents, including the marriage licenses of his children Albert and Minnie and his own burial registration, consistently recorded Thomas J. Nevin's occupation as "Photographer" up to the time of his death in 1923.



Plan of Hobart Town Hall signed by the architect Henry Hunter. nd
Item Number: NS78/1/2
Start Date: 01 Jan 1860
Format: map/plan
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/NS78-1-2

Panoramas & dioramas in 19th century Tasmania
The Theatre Royal in Hobart, the Mechanics Institute in Launceston, and the Hobart Town Hall hosted the newest technological innovations in visual entertainment during the 1860s-1880s.

1863-1868: Bachelder's Grand Historic Mirror
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.

John Badger Bachelder (1825-1894) was a portrait and landscape painter, lithographer and photographer, best known as the preeminent 19th-century historian of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. He was a dominant factor in the preservation and memorialization of the Gettysburg Battlefield in the latter part of the century.

Read more at Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Bachelder



Bachelder's grand historic mirror of the American war and the wonderful dioramas
Publication Information: Hobart : Mercury Steam Press, [1863].
Physical description: 1 print (poster) on silk : Black text on cream ; 450 X 170 mm.
Format: poster image (online)
Notes: "Tonight, Thursday, Aug 27 ... illustrating the great naval engagement between the ironclad monsters Merrimac & Monitor, and the terrific naval combat off the coast of France between Kearsage & Alabama ... funeral procession of the late President Lincoln in the city of Washington"
"Under the especial patronage of Colonel Gore Browne, C.B., and Mrs. Gore Browne, and suite".

Measurement including fringe: 510 X 225 mm.
Citation: Digitised item from: Tasmaniana Library, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AUTAS001126074780w800

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
TOWN HALL.
BACHELDER'S DIORAMA
The Town Hall was again crowded last evening to witness Bachelder's Grand Historic Mirror of the American War. This complete and magnificent moving panorama cannot fail to instruct and amuse the beholder, the representations throughout are lifelike and beautifully painted. The exciting scenes and events in the memorable rebellion as they appear before the audience, call forth long and loud applause. Mr. Bachelder takes considerable pains to describe each scene as it is presented to View, which adds considerably to the interest of the picture, as also does the appropriate music arranged expressly for the exhibition. The concluding portion of the entertainment as upon former representations, was well received and loudly cheered by all present. We again recommend our readers to pay a visit to this first class exhibition, it must be seen to be appreciated. This evening is announced as a grand million night at prices to suit all classes, reserved seats 2s. body of the hall 1s. Children half prices to reserved seats.
Source: TOWN HALL. (1868, August 22). The Tasmanian Times (Hobart Town, Tas), p. 2.
Link: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232862600

1871-1877: H. J. Whittington's Panoramas of Charles Dickens
Exhibited in Hobart and Launceston during the 1870s, these panoramas utilised innovative techniques illustrating scenes from Dickens' life and works to the accompaniment of live performances delivered by actors and musicians:



"Mrs. Gamp Propoges a Toast" by Phiz, June 1844
Steel-engraving 11.9 cm high by 10.5 cm wide, vignetted
Frontispiece for Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit in the Gadshill Edition, Vol. 2. Chapter XLIX, facing page 563, 1844 edition.
Source: https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/phiz/mc/37.html

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
TWO HOURS WITH DICKENS.
An entertainment bearing the above title, being a, combination of music and Panoramic scenes, illustrative of the works of Dickens, will be opened in the Mechanics' Hall on Monday evening next. The agent of the company, Mr H. J. Whittington, arrived here from Hobart Town on Tuesday, and at once took steps to advertise the entertainment. Mr Whittington is both energetic and novel in his styles of advertising, his most original mode being to utilise the large mirrors of the principal hotels. Across the glass of these reflectors he writes, with a piece of common soap, the startling warning, " Look out for Charles Dickens !" The panorama has been painted in New Zealand by a well-known artist, Mr Massey, who has very ably depicted a number of beautiful scenes, including the following :—
A view of Gadshill Place, the favorite residence of Charles Dickens; Election of Beadle; Mr Pickwick on the Ice; Oliver Twist asking for more; the country manager rehearsing a combat; Quelp and Dick Swiveller; Condin and Snort; Sarah Gamp and Betsy Prig; Captain Cuttle sees a shadow on the wall; David Copperfield visits his aunt; Ham Pegoty and the wrecked ship; Micawber throws off his allegiance with Uriah Heep; rescue of Stephen Blackpool from the old shaft Little Dorrit's visit to her father in the Marshalsea prison; capture of prisoners on the Kentish Marshes; the Bird of Prey; the Opium Smokers; Poet's Corner, Westminister Abbey. Mr W. L. Skinner, one of the proprietor, lectures on the scenes, and vocal music is rendered by Messrs Skinner, Barrington, and Turner. We understand the company have been well patronised in Hobart Town, where the views were first exhibited. Each evening a number of valuable gifts are distributed, upwards of £90 worth having been given away in Hobart Town during last week. Some of those intended for distribution here are on view at Davies', Havana House, where tickets may be secured.
Source: TWO HOURS WITH DICKENS. (1877, May 11). Cornwall Advertiser (Launceston, Tas. : 1870 - 1877), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232915636

1871: C. B. Charles' Panorama of the Franco-Prussian War
Originally from Melbourne, C. B. Charles was living in London when he commissioned a moving panorama of the Franco-Prussian War. He returned to Melbourne as the panorama's proprietor in mid January 1871. The first half of his program exhibited pictures of the Suez Canal and the Nile painted by Charles James after David [Daniel ?] Roberts.

Charles' Panorama of Franco Prussian war 1871

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
CHARLES'S PANORAMA - This really meritorious panorama, illustrative of Egyptian and African scones and of the recent Franco-Prussian War, was again exhibited yesterday evening to an appreciative audience, though one by no means so large as the merits of the entertainment should command. The various African views, the Suez Canal, the Nile, the great bazaar at Cairo, the Mosque of Sultan Haroun, the pyramids, the sphynx, Siout, Alexandria, the temple of Isis, Thebes, and the ruins of Karnac, the temple of Edfon are all well executed works of pictorial art, and both the colouring and perspective exhibited a fidelity to nature attainable only by an experienced artist. The war scenes were painted by Daniel Roberts, R. A. of St James's Theatre, London, and the scenes representing " The death of General Douay" and " The soldier's dream of home," by Mr Mason, R. A. , of the Drury Lane Theatre. These war scenes were taken from the original sketches by Gray, which were exhibited in the War Court of the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. Most of these scones have their merits enhanced by clever dioramic effects, and were the exhibition without anything else to commend it, these should in themselves attract crowded houses. The performances of Signor Luigi Ferrari's trained Brazilian monkeys are most remarkable, and occasioned reiterated laughter. Miss Florence Beresford s vocal efforts served to vary the evening's entertainment, and were most favourably received. The following songs were rendered with much felicity -"The silver shining moon," "Away, trumpets are sounding," " The Vivandiere," " The Rhine Watch," and " The Marseillaise " This afternoon and evening the programme will be repeated.
Source: Advertising (1871, July 8). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8868557



COVER: A satirical Panorama of the Franco-Prussian war. Illustrated by Percy Cruikshank, 1870.
The Franco-Prussian war panorama’s cover, printed in blue and red ink, shows an assembly of kings and leaders gathering to watch a bloody birds’ fight in a pit. The German double-headed eagle, in spiked helmet, is grabbing the head of the French rooster, bearing a Phrygian hat with a tricolour rosette. He has already vanquished the French imperial eagle. King Edward VII tells his neighbour, the American President Ulysses S. Grant: “Two heads are better than one”
Many large-scale painted panoramas of the Franco-Prussian war and the Siege of Paris (hundreds of meters long) were produced and circulated in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, France, Europe and the United States, from 1870 to the 1890s. Cruikshank’s Panorama of the Franco-Prussian war is only 12.5 cm high, though it does measure more than 3 meters and hardly fits on our large items Rare Books Reading room table! It folds down to a concertina book of 13 x 15 cm, a ‘pocket’ format which means it was probably intended for the personal use of a private collector, rather than for public display.
Source: Cambridge University Library

W. H. Thompson's Confederate Mirror

1876: "... an excellent piece of mechanism..."

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
THOMPSON'S DIORAMA OF THE AMERICAN WAR.
Since the great civil war between the Northern and Southern States of America, and which resulted in the abolition of slavery throughout the dominions of the great republic, we have had in Hobart Town several dioramic exhibitions of the leading incidents of the fearful struggle ; but we remember none that was more largely patronised than was that of Thompson's Diorama of the battles which took place in the Southern States, presented last night for the first time at the Town Hall. The hall, in every part, was crowded to excess, and when the curtain unveiled the first picture, a bird's eye view of New Orleans, a favourable impression of the ability of the artist was at once created, only to be enhanced as the more thrilling incidents of the war were unfolded. The scene representing the march of General Stewart's body of irregular cavalry on Richmond to oppose General McLellan's well-known attack upon that city at the head of a Federal detachment, afforded a graphic idea of the smartness of the cavalry, which the lecturer (Mr. Thompson, who, by the way, discharged his duties very efficiently), said had been described by the English press as " the finest body of regular cavalry in the world." Another equally effective picture was that representing the engagement of the 69th New York regiment under General Thomas Francis Meagher, who, after a gallant resistance, retreated before Pittsburg, with a loss of 1,400 out of 1,000 men. The battle between the famous Confederate cruiser the Alabama, and the Hattrass, off Galveston, was more than a picture, it was an excellent piece of mechanism, and the way in which the whole affair was worked proved highly interesting, particularly to the junior portion of the audience'. The funeral procession of the great southern commander General Stonewall Jackson, whose death sealed the fate of the Confederate army, is a very elaborate piece of mechanism, the movements of the soldiery forming the cortege being regulated with wonderful precision, and drawing forth warm expressions of approval. In fact, the whole diorama proved a success; and though the music in some respects was not up to the mark, still, it added much to the enjoyment of the evening. At the close of the diorama Mr. Thompson proceeded to present the prices to the holders of tickets, in accordance with the announcements in the show-bills. These consisted of some really valuable and, at the same time, useful articles, including tea and coffee service (4 pieces), two presentation cups, two sovereigns, large liqueur frames, two cruet stands, a couple of opera glasses, and an infinity of other things which we need not describe. One singular circumstance in connection with the prizes was that the great bulk of them went to the shilling part of the hall, thus doing away with any suspicion of favouritism. The exhibition will be on view again to-night.
Source: The Mercury Tue 26 Sep 1876 Page 2 THOMPSON'S DIORAMA OF THE AMERICAN WAR
Link: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/8948153

1879: Crowded Houses !!!
W. R. Thompson, later known as "Zulu" Thompson, was back at the Hobart Town Hall in February 1879 to present his Confederate Mirror of the American War. Advertisements in the Mercury ran throughout February 1879. The large crowds presented logistical challenges to the organizers, not least to Town Hall keeper Thomas J. Nevin:



Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

1879: Mr. Nevin and the lost portmonnaie
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.



Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
LOST AND FOUND. - A resident of Cambridge and his wife who had come to town for the holidays, visited Mr. Thompson's Diorama at the Town Hall on Wednesday evening, when the good lady had the unpleasantness of dropping in the hall her portmonnaie containing money to the amount of £9 or £10. Next morning the parties applied to Mr. Nevin hall-keeper at the Municipal Buildings about the loss, and search was made through the Assembly Room for the property without avail. Mr. Nevin advised that information should be given to the police, and that the loss should be advertised in the newspapers with the offer of a reward. The parties acted accordingly, and an advertisement was left at The Mercury office promising a reward of two pounds for the restoration of the treasure. Not long afterwards Mr. John Johnston, grocer, residing in Elizabeth-street, called at The Mercury office to know if enquiries had been made for a lost portmonnaie, saying that his little daughter had picked up one the previous night in the Town Hall containing money, and he (Mr. Johnston) had tried all he could to find an owner. He was directed to Mr. Nevin, who accompanied Mr. and Miss Johnston to the house in Liverpool-street where the Cambridge people were temporarily staying, and the lost property was restored to the owners, who were on the point of returning to Cambridge without money. In the exuberance of their joy they wished to give the promised reward of £2, which Mr. Johnston declined to take, but he allowed his daughter to accept ten shillings for the purchase of a memento of the lucky find, and as encouragement to young people to respect the axiom "Honesty is the best policy."
NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
THE WAR MIRROR - The largest audience which has witnessed the American War Mirror since its exhibition at the Town Hall was present last night. The Hall was literally packed, many persons standing on both the back and front seats, while numbers had to be refused admission. The views of war which graphically depict its notable events, assisted by stage effects and suitable music, as usual formed a most useful and impressive synopsis of the bloody internecine struggle. Lieutenant Herman's humorous ventriloquial impersonations furnished an agreeable relief from the darker illustrations of the devastating progress of the war. His Irish character figures carried on the funny dialogue in a very laughable and life-like manner. The distribution of a gift to each visitor took place as usual. A grand Matinee is announced for Saturday, when every child will receive a present.
Source: THE MERCURY. (1879, February 14). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8973703

Addenda 1: mechanical marvels

1881Thompson’s Diorama of the Zulu War at Adelaide, South Australia



Source: The Zulu War: Zulu warriors method of advancing to the attack
Link: https://iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1879.htm

NEWSPAPER REPORT: TRANSCRIPT
Mr W.H. Thompson’s "Colossal Mirror of the Zulu War in South Africa" was shown at Garner’s Theatre (formerly White’s Rooms) in King William Street, Adelaide, in May 1881. The Advertiser reported: ‘The diorama consists of many well-executed pictures representing scenes that occurred during the bloody war in South Africa in 1879, during the course of which the brave Prince Imperial fell victim to the murderous assegais of the Zulu warriors.’ The views were said to faithfully represent the different scenes, and after each view was wound on to the stage it was explained by Mr Thompson. The scenes were said to occupy 30,000 (square) feet of canvas.

One part of the programme was advertised as ‘The mechanical marvel showing 8,000 figures on the march,’ and a quotation from the Sydney Daily Telegraph included in the advertisement said, ‘The mechanical portion of the diorama is constructed with marvellous cunning, and far excels anything of the kind shown in this city.’ The ‘8,000 figures’ were miniature wooden representations of soldiers en route to the battlefield. However, the Advertiser reported a small hitch in the operation of the mechanical marvel. ‘The figures are worked by persons underneath the stage, and owing to some trifling imperfection in the arrangements one or two regiments stuck fast and refused to proceed on the warpath. One troop of marines was especially obstinate and, to the great delight of the "gods," instead of advancing the insubordinate soldiers fell down flat, and only moved on after a little gentle persuasion had been brought to bear on them by a human head and arm that appeared from the depths beneath and administered the necessary progressive push.’

Another problem arose when it was time to distribute the ‘gold watch, silver watch, and 100 other beautiful gifts,’ which were to be given away ‘at the discretion of the proprietor,’ not by lucky numbers marked on a programme, which was the usual practice at most entertainments of that kind. When Mr Thompson began his haphazard distribution of gifts the audience became very noisy and disorderly. ‘Persons located in the back seats of the pit and gallery crushed forward in order to bring themselves into prominence, and so secure one of the gifts. The people in the front seats were considerably inconvenienced, and a by no means creditable scene ensued. The rush from behind, the general disorder, the whooping and catcalls being the reverse of enjoyable to orderly disposed persons.’

Advertisements in the Adelaide papers said the paintings were the work of the eminent London artists Telbin, Walter Hann, Ballard, Rogers, Gordon and Harford, and that the diorama had been seen by over 200,000 persons in the past 6 months. The description of incidents portrayed on the canvas were described in advertisements as thrilling, and contained some stirring patriotic statements...

‘The Battle of Isandula, the last order given was -- Fix bayonets, Men, and die like English Soldiers; and so they did.
‘The Buffalo River - Saving the Colours. They lost their lives, but they saved the colours.’
Source: https://noye.agsa.sa.gov.au/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

1898-1906the moving panorama



Above: Diagram showing a typical arrangement for unrolling the canvas of a moving panorama. Dotted lines show the position of the framework that concealed the mechanism. The picture represents the first scene of the Burke and Wills panorama.

EXCERPT
Although not photographic in nature, the 19th century moving panorama was a form of entertainment that was similar in some respects to the magic lantern show, and in many newspaper reports it is difficult to know whether the reporter was describing a moving panorama painted on a canvas roll or a series of lantern slides projected on a canvas sheet.

The moving panorama, or diorama, consisted of a series of paintings on canvas which were then joined together to form one very long canvas sheet that was wound onto a vertical roller. From this roller the canvas was moved across the stage and wound up on a similar roller on the other side. The canvas could be illuminated from behind, from the front, or by a combination of both, using oil or gas lamps.

Above: Diagram showing a typical arrangement for unrolling the canvas of a moving panorama. Dotted lines show the position of the framework that concealed the mechanism. The picture represents the first scene of the Burke and Wills panorama.

Some panoramas were very large. Charles’s panorama (1871) occupied 10,000 square feet of canvas, and each painting was 17 feet by 8 feet. Mankiewicz’s Pantascope used paintings that were 18 feet wide by 9 feet high, and Riseley and Humphrey’s Mirror of England had 120 paintings that were 25 feet long by 14 feet high, making a canvas that was 3,000 feet long and took two hours to unroll.
Source: The R.J. Noye Collection of Photography 1998
Art Gallery of South Australia
Link: https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/noye/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

Addenda 2: diorama of Aboriginal group
The diorama of a Tasmanian Aboriginal group in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery was modelled by E. J. Dicks and presented to the museum by John Arnold in 1930. It was photographed by K. Wilby.
In January 1931, E.J. Dicks, a sculptor hailing from Melbourne, was hard at work in a studio in Tasmania’s capital city of Hobart. The task-at-hand for Mr. Dicks was to build representations of (some would say surrogates for) the “Lost Tasmanian Race.” The Hobart Mercury of January 17, 1931, reports that Mr. Dicks [had] already completed the man for the group, and is occupied with the female figure. It is a strange commentary on life to see the modeler at work with his clay, and beside him the skeleton of the last of the true Tasmanian aborigines, Truganini, while at odd intervals skulls peep out here and there, all contributing a moiety of past life to give reality to a present figment. (The Hobart Mercury, January 17, 1931: 6) Made possible by a gift of £500, the largest given to the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (hereafter referred to as TMAG) to that point, the group exhibit1 sought to give Hobartians a glimpse into the “life and habits of a vanished people” (ibid.). Void of clothing and with jet-black skin, these three figures, designed to represent a natural familial unit, were a visual depiction of a people who had come to represent the lowest and most primitive culture2 ever documented (see fig. 1). In this working paper I argue that the 1931 group exhibit at TMAG sought to enact, consecrate, and consolidate one form of Tasmanian Aboriginality by literally building surrogate representations of the “Lost Tasmanian Race” (who one author poetically, and androcentrically, describes as the “Men Who Vanished” [Dunbabin 1935]).
Source: Building Bodies in the Australian Periphery: The Enactment of Aboriginality in Tasmania
Christopher Berk, University of Michigan 2012
UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 9 (2012)
Link: https://ummsp.rackham.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Berk_Final.pdf

1930the TMAG diorama



Photograph - Postcard - Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginals on the bank of the River Derwent modelled by E J Dicks.
Item Number: LPIC147/1/5
Start Date:01 Jan 1930
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania



Description: Photograph - Hobart Museum, "Mother and child", from Diorama
Item Number:AB713/1/1763
Start Date:01 Jan 1953
End Date:31 Dec 1953
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania
Link: https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB713-1-1763

1976the Powerhouse Medallion of Diorama



Source: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272
The Truganini medallion was commissioned by the Tasmanian Numismatic Society in 1976, and was struck by Pobjoy Mint Ltd., U.K. in both bronze (225 examples) and sterling silver (100 examples). A commemorative brochure states that it was "the [society's] most ambitious undertaking to date and the third issue struck for the Tasmanian Numismatic Society. A high medallic relief and polished field have been employed for the first time." The depiction of Truganini on the obverse was taken from a line engraving, copied from a photograph by C.A. Woolley in 1866. The camp scene on the reverse was taken from a diorama of a Tasmanian Aboriginal group in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, photographed by K. Wilby; the diorama itself was modelled by E.J. Dicks and presented to the museum by John Arnold in 1930.
Source: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272

Addenda 3: External References

ART WORKS
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG)
19th century colonial watercolours and drawings collection
https://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/124313/PRINT_Panoramic_views_room_brochure.pdf

Commemorative Medallions
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney NSW
https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/422272

BOOKS
Colligan, Mimi (2002) Canvas documentaries : panoramic entertainments in nineteenth-century Australia and New Zealand . Carlton South, Vic. : Melbourne University Press.
Panoramas, pages 73-74-75.

ARTICLES
"Building Bodies in the Australian Periphery: The Enactment of Aboriginality in Tasmania"
Christopher Berk, University of Michigan 2012
UM Working Papers in Museum Studies, Number 9 (2012)
https://ummsp.rackham.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Berk_Final.pdf

ONLINE
The R.J. Noye Collection of Photography 1998
Art Gallery of South Australia
https://www.artgallery.sa.gov.au/noye/Lantern/Lan_pano.htm

Archives Office of Tasmania
Diorama of Tasmanian Aboriginals on the bank of the River Derwent modelled by E J Dicks.
Photograph and postcard
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB713-1-1763

Timespanner (NZ)
https://timespanner.blogspot.com/2011/02/william-henry-zulu-thompson-1841-1887.html



Source: Brown University’s John Hay Library received an enormous gift: a 273-foot-long 19th century panoramic painting depicting the dashing exploits of Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Brown's University staff and an outside contractor photograph the painting 6 feet at a time.
Link: https://aesthetic.gregcookland.com/2007/12/garibaldi-panorama-at-brown.html

RELATED POSTS main weblog

Christmas from our Archives

HAND-TINTED PORTRAITS as CHRISTMAS CARDS Red and green sprigs 1874
PHOTOGRAPHIC REDUCTIONS of LARGE DOCUMENTS Cdv of Mercury 1874; fire bell warnings 1878
CHARLES DICKENS and CAPTAIN GOLDSMITH The Gadshill mail box 1859
CHRISTMAS DRINKS at the MAYPOLE Drunk and disorderly at New Town 1885
PRISONERS partying 1881 and SAILORS hugging the holly 1850
CHRISTMAS CONCERT Theatre Royal Hobart ca. 1958
THE GRAND-CHILDREN'S ALBUMS Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin's grandchildren 1942

1. Summer of '42

Betty Nevin and June Watson with icecreams 1940s

From Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin's grandchildren's albums:
Betty J. Nevin (left) with friend June Watson (right), enjoying ice cream after a swim
Taken at Sandy Bay, Hobart, Tasmania, Christmas 1942 (unattributed)
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2021-24


2. The Hobart Mercury front page reduced to a cdv, 1874
On Christmas Day, 25th December 1874, the Mercury newspaper (Tasmania) published a notice which served the dual purpose of praising Thomas Nevin's photographic talents and suggesting by way of praise that the "literary curiosity" would make a great gift as a Christmas card:



T. J. Nevin's photographic feat, Mercury 23 December 1874

TRANSCRIPT
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.
See the full page here of the Mercury, 23 December 1874
Read more here: Thomas Nevin's Christmas feat 1874

Of personal interest on the front page of the December 23, 1874 issue of the Mercury which Thomas Nevin photographed as a Christmas cdv novelty was a small advertisement informing readers that the Royal Standard Hotel was to let by its new properietor John Elliott. Located next door to Nevin's photographic business at 140 Elizabeth St., the Royal Standard Hotel at 142 Elizabeth St. was operated by victualler and government contractor James Spence since 1868. Public Works Department contractors regularly gathered at his hotel to air their "grievances received at the hands of the Public Works Department". Thomas Nevin nominated James Spence in his aldermanic campaign to serve on the Hobart City Council in 1872. Spence's promise to the citizens of Hobart, if elected, was to monitor excessive expenditure on upcoming water and road infrastructure projects. He suggested too - and this proved to be his undoing - that he would investigate and report corruption within government, whether local or colonial, as a whistleblower, or in his words, as "a dog on the chain." Not only did Spence fail to gain a seat in the 1872 HCC elections, he became the subject of two court cases, accused of slander. Ridiculed in the press, he left Hobart, selling the Royal Standard Hotel to John Elliott in 1874 for £775 as Lot 1. Included in the sale was "a cottage and shop adjoining, and three weather-boarded houses in Patrick Street next to Lot 1" for an additional £175. (Mercury 22 Jan 1874 p 2). When Nevin produced his cdv of the Mercury's front page issue, December 23, 1874, Elliott's notice of the lease on the Royal Standard appeared in the last column:



TRANSCRIPT
TO LET, the "ROYAL STANDARD HOTEL", situate corner of Elizabeth and Patrick streets. Apply to J. ELLIOTT.
The Royal Standard Hotel to let, next door to Thomas Nevin's studio
Source:Advertising (1874, December 24). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 1.last column
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8934231

Read more about James Spence here: Contractors Thomas J. Nevin and "dog on the chain" James Spence 1872


3. Connections past and present
On January 18th, 2014, this weblog posted an article with reference to two of Charles Dickens' letters complaining about his neighbour, retired master mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith at Gadshill, in the village of Higham, Kent (UK). The first letter dated 1857 concerned Captain Goldsmith's monopoly of the water supply in the village, and the second dated 1859 concerned the location of the village mailbox outside Captain Goldsmith's house. It took just a few months in 2014, from January when we first posted the reference to Captain Goldsmith and the Higham mailbox in Charles Dickens' letters, to December 2014 when this now famous mailbox found restitution as a fully operational service of the Royal Mail. Perhaps we played a small part in bringing the mailbox back into service. Our generous Captain Goldsmith, without doubt, is the ancestor who keeps on giving.



Source: Marion Dickens and friends at Charles Dickens’s personal postbox, outside his Kent home, recommissioned ahead of Christmas. Photograph: Royal Mail/PA 2014

Read more here: A Christmas Story: Captain Goldsmith, Charles Dickens and the Higham mail box.


4. The Terpsichoreans, New Norfolk 1867
Thomas J. Nevin photographed a large group of dancers at Shoobridge's hop grounds, New Norfolk, north of Hobart, Tasmana, on 27 December 1867. As a group, they were similarly attired: the women wore a dark short top coat over a white dress, while the men wore a striking white hat with a wide brim, floppy crown and black band. During that summer of 1867-1868 Thomas Nevin took the first photographs of his fiancée Elizabeth Rachel Day, who also wore a dark top coat over a white dress for this full-length portrait:

Elizabeth Rachel Day 1867, photo by Thomas Nevin

Elizabeth Rachel Day, 1868, fiancée of Thomas J. Nevin.
Full-length portrait, carte-de-visite
Nevin & Smith (late Bock's) 1867-8
City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Street Hobart Town
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection. Watermarked.

Dancers at New Norfolk 1867, Nevin photo

Stereograph by Nevin & Smith of groups seated and dancing in a circle, New Norfolk, Tasmania, 28 December 1867
Verso label: Tasmanian Views from Nevin & Smith .... plus Tombstones copied, Terms - Cheap!"
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, November 2014
TMAG Ref: Q1994.56.20.1

WORKING MEN'S CLUB EXCURSION TO NEW NORFOLK
Yesterday the steamer Monarch, specially chartered by the Working Men's Club, conveyed between 300 and 400 excursionists to New Norfolk. This was the order of the day. An excellent brass band performed a variety of dance music on the bridge, and a number of indefatigable votaries of Terpsichore tripped it away "on the light fantastic toe" throughout the whole of the upward voyage. New Norfolk was reached by about  ½ past 12. The majority of the excursionists proceeded at once to Valleyfield, the beautiful seat of Mr. Shoobridge, who kindly threw open his grounds to the visitors, and supplied all and sundry with hot new potatoes and green peas fruit and tea. Picnic parties were soon formed in all directions under the trees, and everybody seemed thoroughly to enjoy Mr. Shoobridge's genial hospitality. After refreshment the band summoned the company to the hop-room, where dancing was kept up for nearly a couple of hours. After this football, foot races, kiss in the ring etc. occupied the young folks for some time in a large paddock near the house, during which Mr. Nevins [sic] took three photographic views of the animated scene....
Source: Tasmanian Times Saturday 28 December 1867, page 3

Read more here:Thomas Nevin and the Terpsichoreans, New Norfolk 1867


5. A few drinks on Christmas Eve 1885
Thomas Nevin's photographic studio in the years 1880-1888 was located in New Town where he resumed commercial photography after his departure from the position of Office and Hall Keeper, Hobart Town Hall, in early 1881 and continued photographic contractual work with bailiff duties for the New Town Territorial Police and the Hobart Municipal Police Office. He listed his occupation as "Photographer, New Town" on the birth registration of his youngest daughter Minnie (Mary Ann Nevin) in December 1884. His adult children listed their father's occupation as "Photographer" on their respective marriage certificates in the early 1900s including his affectionate name for their mother - "Lizza" - right to the last marriage in 1917 of their youngest son Albert Edward Nevin to Emily Maud Davis. Even at his death in 1923, Thomas J. Nevin's occupation was registered as "Photographer" on the cemetery's burial certificate.

On or about Christmas Eve, December 24th 1885, William Curtis, Thomas Nevin and and an unnamed "first offender" were celebrating the Season of Cheer with a few drinks when they were each fined 5s. for "drunk and disorderly conduct at New Town".



Stereograph by Thomas J. Nevin of the Maypole Inn and Congregational Church behind, ca. 1870.
Verso inscribed by an archivist with location details. Sourced from eBay March 2016.

Read more here: A few drinks on Christmas Eve 1885 at New Town


6. The traditional sprig of holly
Carte-de-visite portraits were taken in the 1870s by Thomas J. Nevin at the request of clients and colleagues who wanted to gift their portrait as a Christmas Card. They were invariably posed holding the traditional sprig of holly, or whatever was grown locally that would represent holly, tinted red and green always as the two colours readily recognised as signifiers of Christmas.



A Christmas portrait by T. J. Nevin of a toddler holding a sprig of holly, hand coloured red and green
Verso bears Nevin's Royal Warrant stamp ca. 1874
From © The Lucy Batchelor Collection 2009 ARR [PC]



Above: teenage girl holding a sprig, daubed red and green, ca. 1874
Portrait inscribed verso with the transcription "Clifford & Nevin, Hobart Town"
From © The G.T. Harrisson Collection 2006 ARR [PC]

Read more here: The red and green tinted sprigs and Wm Maguire


7. Thomas Nevin's cdv of Hobart's fire bell signals
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.

Even though the electric alarm system might have been in operation in Hobart by the late 1870s, Mr. H. Wilkinson, Town Clerk, and Thomas J. Nevin, Office-keeper of the Hobart Municipal Council, considered it a necessary public service to publish a diagram in the Mercury Almanac for 1878 on New Year's Day, January 1st,1878, showing the number of strokes of the fire bell for each sequence signifying the fire's location, viz:from the intersection of Liverpool and Harrington streets in the north (2 strokes) and west (3 strokes), to the intersection of Harrington Street and Montepellier Road, i.e. Montepellier Retreat, to the south (4 strokes) and east (1 stroke) rising from New Wharf (now Salamanca Place) to Battery Point (5 strokes).





TRANSCRIPT
FIRE BELL SIGNALS, HOBART TOWN.
The city is divided into five parts, as shown below. After the general alarm for a fire has been rung, the proper signal will be given, being repeated five times, with an interval of one minute between each : -
West 3 Strokes.
North 2 Strokes.
Liverpool Street - Harrington Street
South 4 Strokes.
East 1 Stroke.
Montpellier-road
Battery Point and New Wharf;
5 Strokes.
Source:The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Tue 1 Jan 1878 Page 1 FIRE BELL SIGNALS, HOBART TOWN.

Read more here:Thomas Nevin's photographic reductions of large documents 1870s


8. The Pretty Views of Hobart 1850
Venturing out into a Hobart Town garden from HMS Havannah anchored in port at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on 26th December, 1850, deputy adjutant Godfrey Mundy rejoiced at the sight of a full-grown holly:
Every kind of English flower and fruit appears to benefit by transportation to Van Diemen's Land. Well-remembered shrubs and plants, to which the heat of Australia is fatal, thrive in the utmost luxuriance under this more southern climate. For five years I had lost sight of a rough but respected old friend — the holly, or at most I had contemplated with chastened affection one wretched little specimen in the Sydney Botanic Garden — labelled for the enlightenment of the Cornstalks. But in a Hobart Town garden I suddenly found myself in the presence of a full-grown holly, twenty feet high and spangled with red berries, into whose embrace I incontinently rushed, to the astonishment of a large party of the Brave and the Fair, as well as to that of my most prominent feature!


Common Holly 1864
Source:Biocyclopedia.com

Read more here: Captain Edward Goldsmith: imports to Tasmania, exports to everywhere, 1840s-1860s


9. In a party mood: Michael LYNCH, Christmas Eve, 1881
Sixty-five (65) year old cook, Michael Horrigan (or Lynch, Harrigan and Sullivan), transported as Michael Lynch per Waverley (1) in 1841, was feeling festive on Christmas Eve, 24th December 1881. He celebrated by breaking into the residence of Alexander Denholm junior at Forcett, south-east of Hobart near Sorell, helping himself to a gold watch and some very fancy clothes. In a party mood, and probably dressed to the nines in Denholm's tweeds, he then sought out and made amorous sexual advances to Robert Freeman which landed him in prison for indecent assault.



Prisoner Michael LYNCH alias HORRIGAN, HARRIGAN and SULLIVAN
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Date and Place: Hobart Supreme Court March 1882
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
Verso indicates alias, crime, date of transportation, photo or archival no. 466 etc
QVM:1985:P:89, QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania

Read more here:In a party mood: prisoner Michael LYNCH (as Horrigan, Harrigan or Sullivan), Christmas Eve, December 24th 1881


10. ... And from the 1950s



Norma Witts, Santa Claus and children from the Norma Witts Dance School
Christmas Concert, Theatre Royal Hobart ca. 1958
Thomas and Elizabeth Nevin's great grand daughter Kerry middle row third from left
From © KLW NFC Group Private Collection 2023