Showing posts with label National Library of Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label National Library of Australia. Show all posts

T. J. Nevin's 1870s mugshots the inspiration for 21st century artworks

POLICE MUGSHOTS Tasmania 1870s by T. J. Nevin
ARTWORK 21st century based on 1870s mugshots
LISA SHAROUN 2015
KENNETH POMLETT 2013

Ancestors by Lisa Sharoun 2015
Visual Artwork: Ancestors. [Artefact] (2015)
Source: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129233/
Creator: Scharoun, Lisa
Source: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Scharoun,_Lisa.html
Personal communication 26 January 2020:
Copies courtesy of the artist for permission to display the artworks online

Professor Lisa Sharoun created the seven artworks based on T. J. Nevin's 1870s mugshots titled Ancestors for inclusion in a group exhibition of University of Canberra academics from the faculty of Arts and Design. The exhibition took place at the Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra in 2015 with the broad theme around cultural heritage. Accompanying each piece was a citation from our online research about Thomas J. Nevin's photographic work for police, plus acknowledgement of the public collections which hold copies of the photographs, e.g. Archives Office Tasmania. These art pieces were not for sale and remain in the artist's private collection.

The following description which accompanied each of the exhibition pieces (2015) is from the catalogue. These notes were sourced from QUT (2020) where Professor Sharoun is currently Head of School of Design in the Creative Industries Faculty.
Description
Research background
The images presented are inspired by photographic images of the prisoners of Port Arthur taken by the Tasmanian photographer Thomas Nevin in the 1870s. The photos were used as mug-shots, legal instruments taken for the police and not meant to be ethnographic artifacts. The images are, however, strikingly beautiful with the expressions and poses of the prisoners allowing us a window into the lives of these men. When Nevin’s photos were first exhibited together at the Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston in 1977 the curator, Mr. John McPhee, noted; ‘These photographs are among the most moving and powerful images of the human condition.’

Through the paintings presented, you can sense the emotions of these long-deceased spirits; their presence is represented as a ghostly imprint on the golden surface of this vast and beautiful land.

Research Statement
In the novel The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Milan Kundera wrote ‘The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.’ In this exhibition, I am presenting a collection of images that explore the concepts of power, servitude, memory and the ability to forget. From 1787–1868 thousands of men and women were transported in chains to a vast island on the other side of the world. This forced mass migration of the lower social classes of British society deeply influenced the spirit of the nascent Nation. When transportation to Australia effectively ended an attempt was made to erase the convict ‘stain’ from collective memory. Even the name of ‘Van Diemen’s Land,’ home to some of the harshest of the Australian prisons, was removed in order to change public perception of the place.

In her book Australia’s Birthstain, Babette Smith explains: ‘The penal colony had been the most talked about experiment in the world in its first 100 years and subsequently became the object of distortion, cover-up and, finally, silence in the second.’ The names, places and memories of the convict settlements were relegated to a troubled past, one that should never taint the promising golden future of the colony. Although there was a conscious effort to collectively forget the stain of convict servitude, its memory is unmistakably woven into the fabric of the Australian psyche. It wasn’t until the late 1970’s, when the government fully allowed families exposure to convict records, that Australians took a favorable look at past familial connections to the convicts. For the many years that the government censored, or in some cases destroyed, convict records family stories and histories became distant or lost altogether.

Kundera, M. (1980) The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, New York: A.A. Knopf.
Smith, B. (2009) Australia’s Birthstain: the startling legacy of the convict era. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
[Source: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/129233/. Accessed 12 May 2020]



[Above]:  Wall display of seven artworks by Lisa Sharoun based on photographs of Tasmanian prisoners (mugshots) taken for police by government contractor and commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin, Hobart, 1870s.

From the exhibition, Ancestors. Belconnen Arts Centre, Canberra 2015
Creator: Lisa SHAROUN
Source: personal communication (copyright permission)

[Below:]  Thomas Nevin's 1870s photographs of five of the seven prisoners which provided inspiration for Lisa Sharoun's portraits. Originals, duplicates and copies of these particular photographs are held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania; the Archives Office of Tasmania, Hobart; and the National Library of Australia, Canberra.



[Above:] Left to right:
Painted portrait of Tasmanian prisoner Thomas JACKSON 1870s
Painted portrait of Tasmanian prisoner William or John WOODLEY 1870s
Artist:  © Lisa Sharoun 2015 Private Collection

[Below:] Left to right:
Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner Thomas JACKSON 1870s
Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William or John WOODLEY 1870s

  

Left: Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner Thomas JACKSON 1870s
Right: Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William or John WOODLEY 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Black and white copies of sepia prints printed in cdv mounts
From the QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania
These prints are held at the QVMAG, Launceston, Tasmania

Prisoner William or John WOODLEY 



Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William or John WOODLEY 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Albumen print in buff mount
This cdv is held at the National Library of Australia, Canberra
Read more about William or John WOODLEY here


Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William or John WOODLEY 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Caption: "William Woodley convict, transported per Moffatt. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin".
Paper copy of the cdv held at the QVMAG
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: PH30/1/3220



[Above:] Left to right:
Painted portrait of prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Painted portrait of prisoner Michael HARRIGAN 1870s
Painted portrait of prisoner Philip AYLWARD 1870s
Artist: © Lisa Sharoun 2015 Private Collection

[Below:] Left to right:
Photograph of prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Photograph of prisoner Michael HARRIGAN 1870s
Photograph of prisoner Philip AYLWARD 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)




[Below:]
Photograph of prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
From the QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania



Photograph of prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
From the QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania
Read more about William WALKER here



Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Caption: "William Walker convict, transported per Asia. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin".
Paper copy of the cdv held at the QVMAG
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: PH30/1/3221



Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner William WALKER 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Albumen print in buff mount
This cdv is held at the National Library of Australia, Canberra

[Below:]
Prisoner Michael HARRIGAN or SULLIVAN
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923) 1880s?
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
Verso indicates alias, crime, date of transportation, photo no. 466 etc
From the QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania



This print is held in the QVMAG Collection

[Below:]
Prisoner Philip AYLWARD 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Black and white copy of sepia print printed in cdv mount
From the QVMAG Collection, Launceston, Tasmania
Read more about Phillip AYLWARD here



Black and white copy of cdv held at the QVMAG, Launceston


Photograph of Tasmanian prisoner Phillip AYLWARD 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)
Caption: "Arrived as a military pensioner per Blenheim. Tried Hobart 1872. Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin".
Paper copy of the cdv held at the QVMAG
Archives Office Tasmania Ref: PH30/1/3209


Watercolours by Kenneth Pomlett
"I never lost the look of the man" - K. Pomlett



Kenneth Pomlett at home with his watercolours of 1870s Tasmanian prisoners
Screenshot from YouTube video (below)



Uploaded to YouTube on 3 June 2013
Video by Soma Kondo
https://youtu.be/A7jnGQduE70
NB: audio is not clear.

Watch artist Kenneth Pomlett create his watercolours, and listen to his comments on the process. He points to the watercolours of Tasmanian prisoners on his wall, recounting his source as the small carte-de-visite photographs from the 1870s. Each painting took him about four hours. When exactly he produced them is not mentioned. He most likely discovered the photographs here online in our posts about each prisoner, their criminal offences in the 1870s, and the date on which Thomas J. Nevin photographed them. These six same watercolours left his possession at some point, to be snapped up at auction by Kim Sgarbossa. Read her account below.



Six watercolours by artist Ken Pomlett (2012?) of Tasmanian prisoners based on police mugshots taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s.
Copyright © Private Collection of Kim Sgarbossa

Kim Sgarbossa purchased these artworks at an auction and posted this photograph of them hanging in pride of place on her wall at home to the Facebook page, Tasmanian History, with these comments, dated 26 February 2020:

I rescued these gorgeous water colours by artist K. Pomlett. Not many people really like them but I love the history that comes with them and the lives of convicts in early Tasmania and they have pride of place in our home.
They are 6 convicts with their history. Bottom left is Thomas Francis ... Duncan MacDonald born 1812, One eyed Dennis Doherty born 1814, James Harper born 1820, George White born 1821, Peter Killeen born 1806 ... there was no interest so I just had to, not a popular pick up with my friends who think they are ugly but the history is priceless I love them ... all I know [about the artist] is he’s a Tasmanian artist who I believe has a studio in the Huon. I looked him up and these paintings were in his studio wall so I’m not sure why they ended up in a box of frames at an auction ...

The six prisoners featured in these paintings are as follows, from top left to bottom right:
Photograph of prisoner Duncan MACDONALD 1870s
Photograph of prisoner James HARPER 1870s
Photograph of prisoner Denis DOGHERTY 1870s
Photograph of prisoner George WILSON aka WHITE 1870s
Photograph of prisoner Thomas FRANCIS 1870s
Photograph of prisoner Peter KILLEEN 1870s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923)







Top line: left to right
Prisoner Duncan MACDONALD



Prisoner Duncan MACDONALD
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142917917

Prisoner James HARPER



Prisoner James HARPER
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142914518
Read more about James Harper here

Middle line: left to right
Prisoner Denis DOGHERTY



Prisoner Denis DOGHERTY
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142914810
Read more about Denis Dogherty here

Prisoner George WILSON aka WHITE



Prisoner George WILSON aka WHITE
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142919110
Read more about George White or Wilson here

Bottom line: left to right
Prisoner Thomas FRANCIS



Prisoner Thomas FRANCIS
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142916416
Read more about Thomas Francis here.

Prisoner Peter KILLEEN



Prisoner Peter KILLEEN
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
National Library of Australia nla.obj-142917714
Read more about Peter Killeen here.

Watercolours sourced online from Kim Sgarbossa' post to Facebook.
Photographs sourced from the National Library of Australia
Please note: the NLA has recently misattributed their collection
Research copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2003-2020

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Prisoner George GROWSETT 1860 and 1873

DUPLICATES, COPIES and DISPERSAL of 1870s MUGSHOTS
PRISONER George Growsett's THREAT of SUICIDE

George Growsett threatened suicide at trial in 1860 for armed robbery, protesting that he would rather be hanged than endure a lengthy sentence. A sentence of death was duly recorded, which he boastfully informed the court he wanted, but his sentence was commuted a few days later to 15 years in penal servitude. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Mayor's Court, Hobart Town Hall, on discharge on September 5th, 1873. He must have committed further offences (to be included here later if found), since Nevin's original photograph of 1873, numbered "79 " in the Hobart Gaol Photo Book, was duplicated, numbered "264" for application to the prisoner's rap sheet on sentencing for further offences.



The prisoner in a most insolent manner said he knew very well that the question was only a matter of form ; he had not been tried at all, and did not consider that he had had a fair trial. The witnesses had sworn what they liked, and he had not been defended by counsel ; in fact, he had been sold like a bullock in Smithfield Market ; he knew very well that His Honor had his sentence ready written before him, and that the whole thing was a matter of form. He knew very well that he should have a long sentence, but His Honor had better sentence him to be hanged, as he should never do a long sentence ; in fact, he could not do it whether he received it or not (Mercury 7 September 1860)
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery copy
When George Growsett was found guilty at trial of armed assault in 1860, the verdict recorded was "Death" - but he was not hanged. The sentence of "death" was commuted to 15 years of penal servitude. When he was discharged from the 15 year sentence in 1873, he was photographed by government contractor, photographer Thomas J. Nevin. Just one image of this man George Growsett is extant, duplicated several times, and copied.

Three copies from two duplicates are extant of the photograph made from Thomas J. Nevin's original glass negative taken in the one and only sitting of prisoner George Growsett in September 1873 (No. 79) on discharge from a 15 yr sentence for armed robbery. The duplicate from Nevin's original was reproduced again (No. 264) when George Growsett was committed for a further sentence (to be confirmed).

This copy held at the TMAG was originally held in a collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, acquired from convictarian John Watt Beattie's estate in the 1930s as government records and gaol estrays. It was removed from the QVMAG (Launceston) by Elspeth Wishart in 1983 and taken down the Port Arthur historic site as part of an exhibition. For this purpose, for its removal to the exhibition it was numbered "179" - the number written directly below the oval image on the mount. At the close of the exhibition, this mugshot and another fifty (50) and more sourced from the QVMAG were not returned to the QVMAG, deposited instead at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart, thereby violating the integrity of Beattie's Collection. These fifty and more police mugshots of the 1870s, taken by government contractor photographer Thomas J. Nevin, should have been returned to the QVMAG in 1983.

The QVMAG's list of their collection of 1870s mugshots, acquired here in 2005, shows that of the 200 listed in the original QVMAG collection in the 1980s, only 72 mugshots were in fact actually located there. More than 200 were originally acquired at the QVMAG, but were not listed in 1983. Not only were more than a hundred missing from Beattie's original collection, it was in 1983 when Elspeth Wishart et al at the Port Arthur exhibition fabricated an altogether impossible photographer attribution to the prison's commandant A. H. Boyd, despite clear recent and historical evidence that commercial photographer and government contractor Thomas J. Nevin was the commissioned photographer working from February 1872 to commence the photographing of prisoners at sentencing, incarceration and discharge. The misattribution to A. H. Boyd, a renowned bully and not a photographer by any definition of the term, was to pander to the fantasies of his descendants who were mindful of seeing their reviled ancestor come up from history smelling of roses. A. H. Boyd was dismissed for misogyny from the superintendent position at the Queen's Orphan School in 1864, and forced to resign from the commandant position at Port Arthur in December 1873 under allegations of fraud, corruption and misappropriation of funds.

Thomas J. Nevin's original glass negative was produced at the one and only sitting with prisoner George Growsett in September 1873. It was reproduced twice for application to Growsett's prison criminal record sheet, now missing, as are all the early rap sheets from the mid 1870s from which these mugshots were removed. As on later rap sheets, the date of sentencing was written, along with the crime, the length of sentence, the date of discharge and the number of the photograph, which was recorded in the Hobart Gaol Photo Book. The extant photograph held at the National Library of Australia bears TWO numbers: the first, no. "79" was recorded when Nevin photographed Growsett on discharge from a 14 year sentence (September 1860) for armed robbery in September 1873. The second number "264" was recorded for another sentence (date and nature of crime to be confirmed).



Prisoner GROWSETT, George
Ex QVMAG Collection, now held at the TMAG Ref: Q15611
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin

This copy was printed at a slight tilt, compared with the NLA and AOT copies which were straightened when printed.



Verso of cdv of prisoner GROWSETT, George
Inscription: "79 & 264 George Growsett per Ly Montague (Taken at Port Arthur 1874)"
Ex QVMAG Collection, now held at the TMAG Ref: Q15611
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin

The National Library of Australia copy
The National Library of Australia catalogue entry is devised from the inscription on the verso of this photograph, but with the assumption that the information is correct, viz: "George Growsette, per Ly. [Lady] Montague, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]". This photograph was not taken in 1874, it taken in early September 1873 at the Hobart Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, when Growsett was discharged, free in service with a ticket of leave.



George Growsette, per Ly. [Lady] Montague, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
National Library of Australia Call Number PIC Album 935 #P1029/22

The NLA copy bears two numbers on recto: "79 & 264" which indicate that the first, no. 79 was taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the week preceding September 5th 1873 when George Growsett was discharged (FS - free in service). The second, no. 264, was duplicated from the first, from Nevin's original glass negative, when George Growsett was sentenced again (date and nature of crime to be confirmed).

The Archives Office Tasmania copy
A hard copy is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania, and recorded online. The hard copy was most likely reproduced for reasons to do with regional exhibitions, postcard issue, or local and family history publications.



Prisoner George Growsett:
AOT Ref: PH30/1/3258
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin 1873


Webshot 2005: AOT Ref: PH30/1/3258
Caption: "George Growsett, convict transported per Lady Montague. Photograph taken at port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."

Court and Police Records

1852:
George Growsett, from Hereford, was tried at Chelmsford Ass. (UK) on 5th March 1859. He was transported for arson, setting fire to a stack of wheat valued at £100 etc. He arrived at Hobart (Van Diemen's Land - Tasmania) the 9th December 1852 on the Lady Montague. On arrival, he was 19 years old, his religion listed as Church of England, and was able to read and write. He was issued with a Ticket of Leave in 1853, but committed further offences. He was sentenced to 15 yrs for armed assault in 1860, and released again with a TOL on 18th August 1873, gazetted on 9th September 1873.



Growsett, George
Record Type: Convicts
Departure date: 9 Aug 1852
Departure port: Plymouth
Ship: Lady Montagu
Voyage number: 356
Index number: 28764
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1397589
Archives Office Tasmania

1860:
The deposition recorded on 3rd August, 1860, at Hobart Town stated that George Growsett was charged with armed robbery, death recorded. The sentence of death was commuted to 15yrs in penal servitude (P.S.) on Sept 20th 1860.



Deposition: George Growsett:
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AB693-1-1$init=AB693-1-1_054



Tuesday 4th September 1860: Before the Chief Justice and jury, George Growsett was found guilty of assault with a pistol on John Shipley, stealing a watch and £4.
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-8$init=SC32-1-8_121



Page on right:
Thursday the 6th day of September 1860 The Court met this Day at 2pm. Before His Honor The Chief Justice
The following prisoners were placed at the bar and sentenced as opposite to their names.
Patrick Glynn To be kept in P.S. for 4 years
George Growsett Death recorded [commuted to 15 yrs penal servitude]
Martin Lydon To be Hanged
Source: Archives Office Tasmania
https://stors.tas.gov.au/SC32-1-8$init=SC32-1-8_122

PRESS REPORTS 1860
The Hobart newspaper Mercury, on 7th September 1860 reported George Growsett's death-wish statements at trial.
SUPREME COURT.
CRIMINAL SITTINGS.
(AFTER SECOND TERM, 1860.) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6.
FIRST COURT,
BEFORE His Honor Sir Valentine Fleming, Knight, Chief Justice.
The Court sat by adjournment for the purpose of passing the sentences, and His Honor took his seat at two o'clock.
SENTENCES.
George Growsett convicted of robbery under arms.
On being asked if he had anything to say why judgement should not be passed upon him.
The prisoner in a most insolent manner said he knew very well that the question was only a matter of form ; he had not been tried at all, and did not consider that he had had a fair trial. The witnesses had sworn what they liked, and he had not been defended by counsel ; in fact, he had been sold like a bullock in Smithfield Market ; he knew very well that His Honor had his sentence ready written before him, and that the whole thing was a matter of form. He knew very well that he should have a long sentence, but His Honor had better sentence him to be hanged, as he should never do a long sentence ; in fact, he could not do it whether he received it or not.
His Honor said that during the progress of the trial he thought the prisoner was a very unwise and illiterate man, and if anything was needed to confirm that opinion, it was the address which he had just uttered. The prisoner said he had not had a fair trial, or, to use his own language, that he had been sold like a bullock. Now, His Honor thought that he had a most fair and impartial trial. (The prisoner—Well, then, I don't,) His Honor begged that he might not be interrupted, That the prisoner was not defended by counsel was no fault of His Honor, nor of the Crown, but was entirely the prisoner's own fault. His Honor found that he was originally transported to this colony for a very bad offence, namely, arson, for which he received a sentence of 14 years. (The prisoner said he had been punished for that.) He arrived here in 1852, and in the condition of a pass-holder, or, in other words, he arrived here in a condition of qualified freedom. His Honor well remembered that year, and if ever there was a period in the history of the colony when a man if inclined to lead an honest and industrious life, had every inducement held out to do so it was at that time, for the colony had been deprived of labor by the emigration to the gold fields, leaving open to persons in the same situation as the prisoner the means of gaining an honest livelihood. But the prisoner had not availed himself of those means, for in 1853 he was convicted of stealing a rather large sum of money (£25) received a sentence of seven years, and was sent to a penal settlement. Here he was guilty of absconding, insubordination, and other offences, but nevertheless he obtained a ticket-of-leave in 1853, and that was his present condition. The prisoner was a young man in the enjoyment of good health and physical strength and might easily have obtained an honest living, but what did he do ? His Honor here recapitulated the particulars of the prisoner's offence, and continued :- Was it to be allowed that crimes of this kind were to be committed by lawless men ? Where, he asked, was the injustice of the trial ? Was Shipley not the witness of truth ? And had not the jury given every consideration to the case ? His Honor's experience of juries showed him that they were always impartial and considerate, and that they had invariably a leaning towards mercy. And now the prisoner was so injudicious as to address the Court as he had done. He must have known that he was on his trial for life or death, and that by his crime he had forfeited that life by the laws of the colony. (Prisoner : So much the better). Notwithstanding that boastful expression it was not His Honor's intention to pass upon the prisoner the extreme sentence of the law ; there was a point in the evidence of Mr. Shipley in the prisoner's favor, of which he did not, perhaps, perceive the benefit, and that was the impression on Mr. Shipley's mind that the prisoner did not intend to take life. His Honor would give the prisoner the benefit of this, and it would rest with the Executive to determine the duration of his punishment. (Prisoner : I would rather be hanged.) His Honor said there was only one sentence which under those circumstances, he could pass upon the prisoner, and that was to order sentence of of death to be recorded, and
Sentence of death was accordingly recorded.
Source: Mercury (Hobart, Tas), Friday 7 September 1860, page 3

The Launceston Examiner on Wednesday, 20th September 1860 reported on Page 2 that the "death recorded against George Growsett for robbery under arms has been commuted to fifteen years penal servitude."

1871:



TRANSCRIPT

OFFENCES AT PORT ARTHUR.-From the Mercury we learn that two constables, named respectively Elliott and Rogers, have been dismissed for the offence of purchasing pigs and potatoes from two prisoners named respectively George Grossett and Moses Cochrane. The prisoners were also punished, Grossett being sent to an outstation, and Cochrane sentenced to 6 month's hard labor.
Source: Launceston Examiner Tue 21 Feb 1871 Page 5 OUR MONTHLY SUMMARY.

1873:
This record of discharge from the Tasmanian Police Gazette, dated 5th September 1873, lists George Growsett twice; the first entry shows no personal information such as age, height and hair colouring, simply that he was received from the Port Arthur prison minus this information. The second entry shows his alias as Grossett, that he was 40yrs old, and that his height was 5 ft 8 ins., almost 3 inches taller than when his height was recorded as 5ft 5ins at 19yrs old on arrival, a mistake by the police gazette, possibly. He was received at Hobart from the Port Arthur prison and photographed at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall by Thomas J. Nevin on discharge from the Mayor's Court with a ticket of leave.



George Growsett, discharged 5th September 1873
Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police J. Barnard Gov't printer

Ticket of Leave
Fellow prisoner William Smith, transported on the Rodney 3 was granted a Ticket of Leave on the same day as George Growsett: his discharge was gazetted one week later, on 10th September 1873.



Recto and verso of photograph of prisoner Wm Smith per Gilmore (3)
Verso with T. J. Nevin's government contractor stamp printed with the Royal Arms insignia.
Carte numbered "199" on recto
QVMAG Ref: 1985.p.131

Thomas J. Nevin's two different prisoner identification photographs of William Smith per Rodney 3 taken in 1873 and again in 1875 both bear his government contractor stamp on verso. This one, taken in 1873, is held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, Tasmania; the second, taken in 1875 is held in the Mitchell Collection, State Library of NSW.  Read more about William Smith per Rodney 3 here.



George Growsett per Lady Montagu and William Smith per Gilmore 3 each issued with ticket of leave 12 September 1873.
Source:Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police J. Barnard Gov't printer

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T. J. Nevin's mugshot of John FINELLY taken at the Police Office Hobart March 1874

PRISONER JOHN FINELLY or FINLAY
T. J. NEVIN's MUGSHOT of Finelly 17 March 1874



The National Library of Australia "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Photograph of prisoner John Finlay in carte-de-visite mountRef: 1029/58
Photographer: T. J. Nevin taken March 1874 at the Police Office Hobart

The prisoner in this photograph arrived in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) as John Finelly on board the convict transport Pestongee Bomangee (3) in January 1849, and although the judiciary recorded his name as John Finlay or Finelly for his various offences committed in Tasmania in the 1870s, his death from "softening of the brain" at 75 years old was registered on 8th March 1883 in Launceston Tasmania as John Fenelly [sic].

John Finelly was a 24 year old illiterate farm labourer from Kings County, Ireland when he was transported for seven years for stealing a cow, arriving at Hobart on 2nd January 1849. This record details his arrival and various offences to 1855 including the alias "John Brown" he used in 1854 when reconvicted.



Conduct Record for John Finlay or Finelly
TAHO Ref: CON33-1-92_00113_L

When John Finlay or Finelly was sentenced to seven years on 17th September 1872 at the Recorder's Court, Launceston Tasmania for breaking into a building and stealing, he was transferred to the Hobart Gaol in Campbell Street where he remained for three months until December 1872 when he was transferred to the Port Arthur prison on the Tasman peninsula, 60 kms south of Hobart. While there at Port Arthur he was sentenced to ten days in solitary confinement for disobedience of orders and was transferred back to the Hobart Gaol on 9th January 1874 from where he managed to escape with William Smith on 14th March, 1874 (see Addenda below). His name was included in the list of 109 prisoners sent to Port Arthur from 1871 and tabled in Parliament to return to the Hobart Gaol by October 1873.

PRESS REPORTS of the ESCAPE & RECAPTURE
Escape and Re-capture.-About a quarter to six o'clock on Saturday evening as two of the gaol officers named respectively, Thompson and Smith, were proceeding on night duty, they observed two men named Finlay and Webster, both Port Arthur " pets" and at present undergoing sentences in the House of Correction for males, Campbell-street, cross the tramway leading from Campbell-street to the Government Domain. The runaways were instantly challenged to stand, one of the officers giving the alarm to the man on duty at the main gate. Mr. J. T. Smith, the senior constable, and a suitable reinforcement, at once gave chase, the prisoners making speedy headway towards Cornelian Bay. During the heat of the pursuit the constables were joined by a man in the employment of the Rev. Canon Davenport ; on coming up with the levanters this man was struck violently on the head with a stone, thrown at him by Webster. Both Webster and Finlay were re-arrested and taken back to their old quarters. It appears that on Saturday night the prisoners are taken to a bath in the yard, and the two men who escaped, taking advantage of a fitting opportunity, concealed themselves until the other prisoners had quitted the yard, and then effected their escape by scaling the wall. It is to be hoped that the man who assisted the constables will receive some compensation for the injury he sus-tained, and the service he rendered.
Source: The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Mon 16 Mar 1874 Page 2 THE MERCURY.
ABSCONDERS from Gaol.-Wm. Smith and John Finlay, each under a sentence of seven years, pleaded guilty to absconding from the House of Correction on the 14th instant. Sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour.
Assault,-William Smith alias Webster, one of the prisoners in the previous case, pleaded guilty to assaulting George Smith, in the employ of tho Rev. Canon Davenport.
George Smith deposed that while assisting to capture the prisoner, who had escaped from gaol, he (the prisoner) struck witness on the head with a large stone. Sentenced to one month's solitary confinement.
Source: The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) Wed 18 Mar 1874 Page 2 CITY POLICE COURT.

When captured, escapee John Finlay or Finelly was sentenced at the Mayor's Court, Hobart Town Hall, to six months to be served once more at the Port Arthur prison. He was photographed by Thomas J. Nevin at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall [P.O. Hobart] on 17th March 1874 as soon as the conviction was recorded (see Conduct Record transcript above). Finelly was received once again at Port Arthur on 29th March 1874. In December 1874 he was committed twice to spells of 24 hours and seven days in solitary confinement at Port Arthur for disobedience and insubordinate conduct respectively. He was transferred back to the House of Corrections for Males (the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street) on 17th April 1877 on the closure of the Port Arthur prison. John Finelly was discharged in January 1879 and returned to Launceston where he died on 8th March 1883. These details are taken from records held at the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart, Tasmania, CONDUCT Register - Port Arthur (CON94-1-2) for the years 1873-1876 (see complete index below):



Folio 25: Detail of image 49 below:

TRANSCRIPT CON94-1-2_00049_L Image 49
John Finlay or Finelly "Pes: Bom: (3) Transported for Breaking into a building and Stealing
Tried S.Crt Launceston 17th Sept. 1872 (7) Seven years (Lnton)
Transferred to H.[Hobart] Gaol (Males) 9.1.74. P.O.[ Police Office] H. [Hobart] Town 17.3.74 Escaping (6) Six months
Received again at P.A. 29.3.74
Transferred to the H.C. [House of Corrections] Hobart
17 April 1877


Folio 25: Image 49 on left: CON94-1-2_00049_L Image 49
John Finlay or Finelly "Pes: Bom: (3) Transported for Breaking into a building and Stealing
Tried S.Crt Launceston 17th Sept. 1872 (7) Seven years (Lnton)
Transferred to H.[Hobart] Gaol (Males) 9.1.74. P.O.[Police Office] H. [Hobart] Town 17.3.74 Escaping (6) Six months
Received again at P.A. 29.3.74
Transferred to the H.C. [House of Corrections] Hobart
17 April 1877
Folio 25: Image 50 on right:
CON94-1-2_00049_L Image 50 [second page of John Finlay/Finelly]
From Ledger 18/292
P.A. 17.12.72. Disobedience of Orders 10 days Soly [solitary] Conft [confinement]
ditto [P.A.] 7.12.74. Disobedience of Order. 24 Hours S.C.
ditto [P.A.] 19.12.74 Disobedience of Orders & Insubordinate Conduct 7 days S.C.
Police Registers and Gazettes
The Tasmanian Police Gazettes, published weekly, which began to document in detail all crimes, warrants, arraignments, convictions, returns of inmate numbers, and discharges from the mid 1860s, are clearly the most comprehensive source of an offender's criminal career. Tasmanian Prison Registers in bound form of criminal record sheets to which the prisoner's mugshot was pasted have not survived in public archives from the decade of the 1870s (it would appear, up to this point, at least), but those bound registers extant from the late 1880s onwards with photographs included which are held at the Archives Office Tasmania (TAHO) have indeed survived and give a clear idea of the meticulous systematic documentation undertaken by the Colonial government's administration.

Smaller registers from 1870s, however, do survive, which document prisoners' sentences in the Hobart and Launceston Sessional and Supreme Courts, particularly those which record men sent to the Port Arthur prison from 1871 and returned to the Hobart Gaol from October 1873 to January 1874 at the request of Parliament. Thomas Nevin photographed this group (109) after the processing of their warrant and photograph at the Hobart Gaol and Municipal Police Office, Town Hall. Those photographs were reproduced in duplicate (four or more) with at least one pasted to the prisoner's criminal record sheet. Most of these 1870s extant photographs are now loose; they were either removed in the 1900s from the sheets for archiving, and the sheets destroyed, or they are duplicates produced by the original photographer Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s or by a later copyist such as J. W. Beattie ca.1900 .

Online at TAHO is one such register, the CONDUCT Register - Port Arthur (CON94-1-2) for the years 1873-1876. John Finlay as Finelly is listed on the first page of the Index, Folio 25 (see Folio 25 above). This register not only lists many of the names of prisoners as those whose photographs have survived from the 1870s, it also documents in detail the daily earnings of the prisoner while incarcerated at Port Arthur. Most important are the Hobart Police Office's annotations from warrants with the prisoner's dates of arrival and departure from Port Arthur, plus further sentences dealt out in the Hobart courts for crimes committed into the 1880s and concommitant sentences at the Hobart Gaol. Several of these men were sent to Port Arthur at the end of 1874, a year after the departure of the non-photographer Commandant A. H. Boyd (Dec. 1873), whom some would wish to believe photographed them there (eg the corruptible Margie Burn at the NLA for their collection 2007;  the fantasies of silly Julia Clark at the Port Arthur Heritage Site). This is a clear indication that this register was maintained conjointly by the police administration in Hobart and clerks at Port Arthur from 1873 and beyond the date of closure of Port Arthur in 1877. The red ink on these records, according to journalist Marcus Clarke, author of For the Term of His Natural Life (1874) was added at the Hobart Police Office where he viewed them on request:
When at Hobart Town I had asked an official of position to allow me to see the records, and - in consideration of the Peacock - he was obliging enough to do so. There I found set down, in various handwritings, the history of some strange lives... and glancing down the list, spotted with red ink for floggings, like a well printed prayer-book ...



Source: Marcus Clarke, THE SKETCHER. (1873, August 2). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 5. Retrieved September 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article137581230

The photographs of many of these prisoners on the list are held at the National Library of Australia as loose items (84 in 2010). When first accessioned by the NLA, the photographs were housed in a large leather-bound album, similar to a conventional 19th century family album (1962/1985 and personally witnessed for this weblog in 2000). None were pasted to criminal record sheets, and no accompanying register was recorded. Donated as estrays from exhibitions (e.g. on board the fake convict hulk Success 1890s, and the Royal Hotel, Sydney 1915), sourced originally from a defunct government department (by Dr Neil Gunson in 1964), and viewed already as aesthetic rather than vernacular artefacts, these mugshots in their original context would have accompanied this particular register, (CON94-1-2):



Finlay, John (as Finelly) - Pest. Bomangee - Folio 25
Entered on first page of Index of -
Item: CON94-1-2
Title: TASMAN'S PENINSULA - CONDUCT REGISTERS, PORT ARTHUR.



Archives Office of Tasmania – digitised record
Item: CON94-1-2
Series Number: CON94
Title: TASMAN'S PENINSULA - CONDUCT REGISTERS, PORT ARTHUR.
Start Date: 01 Jan 1868
End Date: 30 Sep 1876

POLICE GAZETTE 1872



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police (weekly police gazettes).

The police gazette recorded that John Finlay transported as Finelly, on the ship Pestonjee Bomanjee 3, was free in servitude = F.S. and convicted of breaking into a building, sentenced on the 19th September 1872 to seven years at the Recorder's Court, Launceston. He was transferred to the Hobart Gaol where he remained until December 1872, then taken down to Port Arthur. He was transferred with 109 prisoners back to the Hobart Gaol in January 1874  from where he escaped. He was captured and sentenced at the Mayor's Court, Hobart Town Hall, to six months. He was photographed by Thomas j. Nevin at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall in March 1874 on the Mayor's Court conviction before returning once more to the Port Arthur prison where he remained until 1877 when the prison closed. He was sent back to the Hobart Gaol where he was discharged in 1879. He died in Launceston in 1883.

COURT RECORD 1872



Right page:
22nd August, John Finlay, of Evandale Tasmania, 7 years
TAHO Ref: AB693-1-1_101

Death of John Fenelly [sic]
When John Finelly was sentenced in 1872 to seven years for breaking into a building, he was a farm labourer, FS (free in servitude) living at Evandale in the north of the island. When he was discharged in 1879 from the Hobart Gaol, he returned to the north and died at the Launceston Hospital in March 1883.



Record 1089: Deaths in the District of Launceston
John Finelly, male, 75 yrs, laborer, softening of the brain,
Thomas Doolan, Undertaker, Launceston
Registered on 16th March 1883
TAHO Ref: 007368146_00026

T. J. Nevin's photograph of John Finelly or Finlay
Offline and viewed in situ at the National Library of Australia in the plastic folder sleeves and pockets (see examples below) in which they are housed, these very old 1870s and 1880s photographs of Tasmanian prisoners lose a good deal of their visual appeal which they otherwise seem to project when enlarged and digitised for online viewing. The staff at the National Library of Australia readily protest that these photographs are prized as unique artefacts when confronted with criticism about the way they are treating their collection. Yet the plastic pockets - which are not the celluloid pockets used for other photographs in their collections - are contributing to the decay of these photographs and is clear evidence that the NLA staff prefer to dissemble, at times even respond with aggression when called out. Likewise, the manner in which the NLA staff since 2007 have compromised government contractor Thomas J. Nevin's historically correct attribution as the commercial photographer of these mugshots with baseless and brazen tourist propaganda from Port Arthur Heritage Site's disgraced former employee Julia Clark, is inflicting damage of another kind to the nation's cultural memory which these photographs inform. They should at the very least receive mature and professional treatment, but Australia's cultural heritage, it seems in this instance, is not necessarily immune from abuse by the very public institutions entrusted to preserve it.



The National Library of Australia "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Top right: photograph of prisoner John Finlay in carte-de-visite mount
Ref: 1029/58
Photographer: T. J. Nevin March 1874 Police Office Hobart
Taken at the NLA January 2015
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2015



The National Library of Australia "Port Arthur convicts 1874"
Top right: verso of photograph of prisoner John Finlay in carte-de-visite mount numbered "132"
Ref: 1029/58
Photographer: T. J. Nevin March 1874 Police Office Hobart
Taken at the NLA January 2015
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2015

This was the only photograph taken of John Finlay or Finelly. It was NOT taken at Port Arthur by anyone other than T. J. Nevin. Duplicates were displayed in the early 1900s by convictarian John Watt Beattie in his "Port Arthur Museum" in Hobart, one of dozens numbered and labelled by Beattie as "Taken at Port Arthur 1874", including details of the tranportee's ship, to entice local and intercolonial tourists to the ruins of the Port Arthur prison at the turn of the 20th century.

At least four duplicates were made by Nevin from his original negative. His duplicate of John Finelly's  photograph which bears the number "86" is still held in Beattie's donated collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston . This number was either written on the QVMAG's cdv when it was exhibited between 1938 and 1977 (Mechanics Institute and QVMAG, Launceston) or during 1983-1984 when it was removed from the QVMAG and taken south for an exhibition at the Port Arthur Heritage Site. QVMAG and PAHSMA employees who mounted that exhibition (eg E. Wishart, K. Simpson) inscribed the additional date "1849" - the date of Finelly's arrival in VDL - on the verso in 1983.

The cdv held at the National Library of Australia of John Finelly or Finelly bears no numbering on the recto. It also bears the number "132" on verso but not the date "1849". Number "132" was listed as missing from Beattie's collection at the QVMAG when the list was typed up in the 1980s. It was most likely removed by Beattie from his collection to be exhibited in Sydney in 1915 in association with convictaria exhibited on board the fake convict hulk Success. Those items were offered for sale, many of which were purchased and resold by private collectors, to be donated decades later to the NLA (eg Niel Gunson, 1964).  Another possible source of some of the NLA's collection of "Port Arthur convicts 1874", Nevin's photo of John Finlay or Finelly included,  was an album of Tasmanian prisoner mugshots from various sources handed over to the NLA by John McPhee in the 1980s (personal communication, NGA, Canberra 1985).  John McPhee was the curator of the Thomas J. Nevin exhibition of mugshots from Beattie's collection at the QVMAG in 1977.



Prisoner John Finlay or Finelly
QVMAG Ref: 1985_P_0099
Photographer: T. J. Nevin March 1874 PO Hobart



Verso: Prisoner John Finlay or Finelly with the addition of the date "1849"
QVMAG Ref: 1985_P_0099
Photographer: T. J. Nevin March 1874 Police Office Hobart



A paper copy of the QVMAG cdv is also held at the Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office, Hobart. More than 300 of these extant police mugshots taken by police and commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s-80s at the Port Arthur prison, the Hobart Gaol (assisted by his brother Constable John Nevin) and the Hobart Municipal Police Office (Mayor’s Court, Hobart Town Hall) are held in the John Watt Beattie Collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office Hobart; the Port Arthur Heritage Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the State Library of NSW, Sydney. Most are Nevin’s originals and duplicates produced in carte-de-visite format; some were reproduced from Nevin’s glass negatives by Beattie for sale and exhibition in Hobart at his convictaria museum and in Sydney at the Royal Hotel in conjunction with convictaria for the travelling exhibition on board the fake prison ship Success (1916). An exhibition of these photographs by T. J. Nevin was held at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1976 (Daniel Thomas cur. ) and at the QVMAG in 1977 (John McPhee cur.).



Examiner, Launceston March 10, 1977
The QVMAG Exhibition 1977

TRANSCRIPT
CONVICT STUDIES ON DISPLAY
Photographs of the last of Australia's convicts at port Arthur in 1874 are on display at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston.
Taken by T. J. Nevin, of Hobart, the photographs represent the last century's great interest in phrenology and the belief in various methods of identifying the "criminal" type.
Comparable with these are plaster casts of the heads and the records and drawings of the dissected skulss of executed convicts.
All the photographs have the name of the convict recorded on the reverse; some have details of their crimes, the date of their transportation and a record of the ship on which they were transported.
Many of these old men photographed in 1874 were transported 40 years earlier as boys.
At the time these 19th century prisoner photographs taken by Nevin on government contract for the Attorney-General's Department were exhibited in the 1970s at the QVMAG, their true origin as prisoner identification police photographs was subjoined to death masks and subjudicated by a curatorial gaze which mistakenly assumed they were devised for contemporary middle-class fascinations with popular movements such as phrenology and eugenics. These mugshots were taken for the police by Nevin on contract from the early 1870s to 1886, to be used in daily surveillance and detection, for the same reasons that mugshots are taken and used today.

Addenda: William Smith as Webster
Prisoner William Smith as Webster per Rodney 2 was prisoner no. 9435, tried at Lancaster in 1842, 18 years old, transported for 7 years. He escaped from the Hobart Gaol with John Finelly or Finlay on the 14th March 1874. was recaptured with Finelly the same day and was sentenced to six months hard labour with an additional one month in solitary confinement for striking one of his pursuers on the head with a stone (see Mercury notices above).



Prisoner no. 9435, William Smith
TAHO Ref: CON33-1-39_00204_L

This is the record of earnings at Port Arthur for William Smith as Webster per Rodney 2. This man was prisoner no. 9435, tried at Lancaster in 1842, 17 years old, transported for 7 years. He was transferred to the House of Corrections (Males) , i.e. the Hobart Gaol in Campbell St. from the Port Arthur prison on 4th December 1873 to serve the six months remaining of his sentence.



"The Governor in Council directs that this man shall serve six months from the 4th instant with industry, good conduct, and subordination to entitle him to freedom.
Signed W.. Giblin
Attorney-General's Office
4th December 1873"



Source: TAHO
CON94-1-1_00617_L; CON94-1-1_00617_L
Conduct register - Port Arthur
Start Date:01 Jan 1868 End Date:31 Dec 1869
Copy Number:Z1436
Series: CON94 TASMAN'S PENINSULA CONDUCT REGISTERS
PORT ARTHUR. 01 Jan 1868 to 30 Sep 1876

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