Showing posts with label Biographica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Biographica. Show all posts

Thos J. Nevin, juror on the Casimaty case, SC Hobart, 1918

George CASIMATY's fish saloon 1918
Thomas J. NEVIN, juror, Supreme Court 1918
Xenophobia: Greek, Chinese businesses attacked
Military Police Tasmania 1912-1918

George JOYCE: the face of racism



"Like an ignorant and vicious man you tried to bait these foreigners, thinking to get fun out of abusing them. You ought to know, and the public ought to know that this man and any other foreigner is as much entitled to the protection of the law as any others, and shall be so so far as this court is concerned. I have frequently noticed in this Court and elsewhere of vicious, ignorant people thinking it good sport to abuse and bait Chinese and other foreigners."
On sentencing George Joyce to 12 months' imprisonment in the Casimaty Case
The Solicitor-General, Supreme Court Hobart 15 October 1918

Thos J. Nevin, juror on the Casimaty Case
It was either photographer Thomas James Nevin senior (1842-1923) resident of 270 Elizabeth St with a business at 279 Elizabeth St. Hobart, who was chosen for jury duty on the Casimaty case heard in the Supreme Court Hobart on 15 October, 1918, or it was his eldest son by the same name, Thomas James Nevin junior (1874-1948), bootmaker of 236 Elizabeth St. Hobart, known as Tom Nevin and "Sonny" to family.

Given that the names of two other members of the twelve-man jury - viz. Jacob Triffett, jun and Julian G. Brown, jun were indicated as "junior" and Thos Nevin  wasn't - where "jun" conventionally signified they were sons with the same name as their respective fathers - it may well have been Thomas J. Nevin senior who sat in the juror's box on this case. He had signed the birth registrations of his children with the same abbreviation of his name -  "Thos J. Nevin" - from 1872 on the first child's certificate (May's) to the last child's (Albert's) in 1888, with the exception of Tom's birth registration in 1874 which his father-in-law Captain James Day signed while he was away on business at Port Arthur. He was still listing his occupation as "photographer" when he signed youngest son Albert's marriage certificate to Emily Maud Davis in 1917,  and he was buried with the occupation "photographer" on his death records. It now seems possible from family memorabilia that Thomas J. Nevin snr collaborated with photographer Peter Laurie Reid during the 1890s-1911 up to Reid's death, aged 78 yrs in 1911 at Reid's property, 4 Andrew St. around the corner from Newdegate St. North Hobart where four of the Nevin adult children would settle at No's. 23-29 on their father's death and where they would remain until the death of the eldest (and unmarried) daughter May Nevin in 1955.

With the death in 1914 of his wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin, mother of their six children to survive to adulthood, their eldest child May (Mary Florence Elizabeth) Nevin (1872-1955) stayed with her father to care for him at their residence, 270 Elizabeth St. Hobart where he died in 1923. From about 1913 and up to his death in 1923, Thomas J. Nevin snr was operating a livery yard and stables business at 279 Elizabeth St. where he was assisted by his youngest son Albert Edward Nevin (photo below) whose successes as a young trainer and reinsman of pacers at the racetracks in Launceston and Hobart were regularly noted by the press. So, when called for jury duty to sit on the Casimaty case in 1918, Thomas J. Nevin snr was selected as a registered business owner of a livery yard and stables which kept and boarded horses for owners who paid a weekly or monthly fee.

Nine (9) Tasmanian residents were listed with the surname NEVIN in Wise's Tasmanian Directory for 1913; all but two were members of the Nevin clan living in the north of the island and unrelated to the other two in the south - Thomas J. Nevin snr, who registered his livery business at 279 Elizabeth St. Hobart, and his wife Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin, who was listed as Mrs E, 270 Elizabeth St, Hobart where they both resided and where Elizabeth Nevin died in 1914.



Mrs E, 270 Elizabeth St, Hobart
Nevin, Thos J, liv stble, 279 Eliz st. Hobt

Wise's Tasmanian Directory for 1913
Archives Office Tasmania
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AUTAS001126438076/AUTAS001126438076P1913PDF

Albert E Nevin, with horse 1914

Youngest son of Thos Nevin snr, Albert E. Nevin (1888-1955) at Nevin's livery stables, 279 Elizabeth St. Hobart
Verso inscribed "To Miss E. Davis, From Mr. A. Nevin, 1914"
Unattributed; black and white; cardboard frame
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020

1918: the Casimaty Case
On 15 October 1918 before noon, a crowd of 30 to 50 people gathered outside Gregory Casimaty's fish shop and dining saloon at 35 Elizabeth Street, Hobart from where George Joyce had emerged and was attempting to kick in the shopfront window. This act of malice followed the scene inside the cafe where Joyce had sought to game the Greek proprietor and his assistant Basil Castrissos by refusing to pay for his meal and those of his two companions - his brother and another. Casimaty locked the doors until Joyce finally handed over 2 shillings but once outside, Joyce began kicking at the shop window. Gregory Casimaty attempted to stop him but was struck by Joyce's brother. Military Police Officer Dalziel claimed in court to have witnessed George Joyce smash the window on his third attempt at kicking it in and could corroborate Casimaty's evidence. Two more military police, P.O. McHare and Henry McNally corroborated Dalziel's evidence. The crowd, however, saw the situation in a different light by the time Gregory Casimaty had chased George Joyce up the street to the Empire hotel, caught him and pinned him down. Someone in the crowd struck the military policeman and pulled Casimaty off Joyce who then escaped and ran off towards Murray Street where he was spotted by army serviceman Private Sellars. Two local police constables, Hill and Godfrey arrived and arrested George Joyce on being identified as the offender by his victim Gregory Casimaty.



Source: Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas. : 1883 - 1928), Saturday 7 December 1912, page 6

TRANSCRIPT
MILITARY POLICE
As the State authorities have refused to allow their police to see that the compulsory training obligation under the Defence Act is enforced, the Minister for Defence has established a. form of military police. Under this arrangement Tasmania will have one sergeant-major who will receive £204 a year. The Minister offered the State police £6 a year, but most of the State Governments thought that it was not enough.

Source: MILITARY POLICE (1912, December 7). Daily Telegraph (Launceston, Tas.), p. 6
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152481861

The presence of military police on Hobart's streets was evidence of the State's refusal to train regular police under the Defence Act. With the loss of young men to military service at the Great War in Europe (1914-1918), the regular police force was both compromised and diminished. Their evidence in this case was discounted by George Joyce's defence attorney, Mr. O'Brien, who sought sympathy from the jury for Joyce as "a hard-working man, and the sole support of a widowed mother". Thos Nevin snr and the eleven other members of the jury were not swayed. They took just fifteen minutes to deliver their verdict of guilty.

Trial of George JOYCE, 15 October 1918
Source: SUPREME COURT. (1918, October 16). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 7.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11413316

TRANSCRIPT
SUPREME COURT.
HOBART CRIMINAL SITTINGS.

At the criminal sittings of the Supreme Court yesterday, Mr Justice Crisp presided.

The following jury was empanelled :-
Joseph Bradley (foreman), John Marney, Theodore Batten, Wm. E Smith, Wm H. Cripps, Thos. J Nevin, Jacob Triffett, jun., Jos. Nichols, Sydney Alomes, Jas. Gallagher, Wm. Reynolds, Julian G. Brown, jun.

George Joyce was charged with having wilfully and maliciously damaged the window of Gregory Casimaty's fish saloon at 35 Elizabeth-street, Hobart, on August 17, 1918. Accused pleaded not guilty.

The Solicitor-General (Mr. Chambers) prosecuted, and Mr. O'Brien appeared for the defence.

The Solicitor-General pointed out that the damage amounted to £18 10s.

Gregory Casimaty, restaurant-keeper, of 35 Elizabeth street, stated that accused, after having had supper with three other men, refused to pay. Witness then instructed one of his shop assistants to close the door, and informed accused that if he did not pay the police would be called in. After threatening witness, accused struck at one of the restaurant assistants - Basil Castrissos.

Finally accused paid 2s., and went outside with his brother, and began to swear and invite witness outside to fight. Accused's brother attempted to strike witness while accused kicked at the window three times. At the third kick he broke it, and ran away. Witness followed him, and caught him outside the Empire Hotel, where accused fell. Witness held him down awaiting the police. A military policeman came up and assisted witness. One of the crowd struck the military policeman, who then let Joyce go. The crowd pulled witness away from accused, who escaped up Elizabeth street. At 12 pm witness, in consequence of a summons, saw the accused at the corner of Murray and Bathurst Street and identified him as the person who had broken his window.

In reply to Mr. 0'Brien, witness said disturbances were not frequent in his restaurant, as a result of his hasty temper. The accused and his brother had not paid for their supper until they were threatened with the police. At the time of the breaking of the window there were between 30 and 50 people outside the shop.

Basil Castrissos, assistant at Casimaty's restaurant said that when he asked the accused and his brother for payment, the brother said, "I have no money to pay you, but if you want a fight, I will fight you." Subsequently they went out after paying, and accused said "If you do not come out and fight , I will smash your window." Thereupon, he made three kicks at the window. The last smashed it. Witness corroborated Casimaty's evidence from this stage.

In reply to Mr. O'Brien, witness said he was not the cause of the disturbance. He saw accused break the window.

P.O. Dalziel, military policeman, said he saw accused break the window, From this stage he corroborated Casimaty's evidence.

P.O. McHare, military policeman, corroborated Dalziel's evidence. He said he accompanied him on the night of the disturbance.

Henry McNally, military policeman, corroborated Dalziel also. He said he was satisfied beyond doubt that the accused was the man who broke the window.

Constable Hill stated that accused was pointed out to him on the corner of Liverpool and Elizabeth streets at 12 pm by Private Sellars. Accused then ran off to towards Murray street, and was taken in a lane off that street a few minutes later. Accused refused to move until Casimaty and Constable Godfrey came up.

Constable Godfrey testified that he had arrested, and took him to the police station.

Gregory Casimaty, recalled, gave evidence that the window was 3ft from the asphalt.

The Solicitor-General, addressing the jury, said there was no question that the breaking of the window was deliberate and malicious. The evidence showed that accused had made three kicks at the window. The fact that he ran off when the damage was done strengthened the belief that he was guilty. Each witness deposed that he had seen accused break the window.

Mr. O'Brien, addressing the jury, said it was not likely that accused could make three kicks at the window without being molested and prevented by Casimaty, or Castrissos. He discounted the evidence of all the witnesses for the Crown.

His Honor in summing up said the only question the jury had to decide was whether accused was the guilty party. The accused man and his companion has meanly tried to cheat Casimaty, and when asked to pay maliciously broke his window, that was if the evidence of the Crown was to be believed, the question hinged entirely, it would appear, on identity, and five witnesses had deposed that they saw accused kick at the window. It would be a peculiar thing if Casimaty was trying to do business in the city and abusing his customers, as counsel for the defence had suggested.

The jury, after a quarter of an hour's retirement, returned a verdict of guilty.

Mr O'Brien pleaded in mitigation of penalty that accused was a hard-working man, and the sole support of a widowed mother.

His Honor sentenced the prisoner to 12 months' imprisonment, and said: - "Your unmanly and vicious action of August 17 caused a considerable disturbance. I have no doubt that this trouble arose from the fact that you tried to defraud a foreigner of what was justly due to him. Like an ignorant and vicious man you tried to bait these foreigners, thinking to get fun out of abusing them. You ought to know, and the public ought to know that this man and any other foreigner is as much entitled to the protection of the law as any others, and shall be so so far as this court is concerned. I have frequently noticed in this Court and elsewhere of vicious, ignorant people thinking it good sport to abuse and bait Chinese and other foreigners.

Source: SUPREME COURT. (1918, October 16). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 7.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11413316

Chinese businesses in Hobart
The Solicitor-General's reference to the abuse of Chinese businesses in particular in his summing up and sentencing of George Joyce would suggest similar cases of racism were frequently reported to police and tried in the courts. The newly formed Federal Parliament's introduction of the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 officially sanctioned racism in so much as it sought to keep Asians and Pacific Islanders out of a "white Australia".

White Australia badge

Brass ‘White Australia’ protection badge, 1906.
The words ‘population’, ‘production’, ‘progress’ and ‘protection’ appear on the other side.
Source: National Museum of Australia
Link: https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/white-australia-policy

Despite decades of insults and abuse, even murder, (see this post about prisoner Daniel Davis 1883, 1892 and 1897), the Chinese who had established businesses in Hobart before the 1901 Immigration Act continued to operate as fruiterers, green-grocers, market gardeners, tobacconists, gift and fancy goods retailers, and industrial laundries. For example, by 1918 these businesses in Elizabeth St. and surrounds would no doubt have experienced the sort of racism metered out to Gregory Casimaty at his fish saloon by the likes of George Joyce:
Ah Chung Mrs, tob & fcy gds, 96 Eliz st, Hobart
Chung-Doo W, grngrcr, 45 Bathurst st, Hobart
Chung J, fncy gds, 77a Eliz st, Hobart
War Shing, lndry 302 Eliz st Hobart
Lee Ping, laundry 394 Eliz st Hobart
Chong W Y, frtr, 71 Harrington st, Hobart
Goong Peter L, greengrocer, 103 Murray st Hobart
Ah Toy, Albert rd, Moonah
Ah Wak, mkt gdnr. 10 Forster st, New Town
Chinese businesses in Elizabeth St. Hobart and surrounds
Source: 1917-1918 Wises' Tasmanian Directory
Archives Office Tasmania
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AUTAS001126438076P1918PDF

George Joyce's rap sheet, 1913-1918

George Joyce mugshots 1918

Photo No. 506c, 18-10-1918
Mugshots of George JOYCE, profile with cap, full-frontal no hat, pasted to rap sheet below:

Joyce, George rap sheet 1918

Rap sheet: George JOYCE
Archives Office Tasmania. Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/GD63-1-5P493

George JOYCE, Hobart Gaol record 1918
DETAILS TRANSCRIBED from page 60408.
Joyce, George. Native, Free. R&W. [read and write]. Single.
Photo no. 506s.
F.P. Class m [Finger print class male] 13/18 R/A (00/.) 21

Trade: Plasterer's labourer
Religion: R.C. [Roman Catholic]
Height: 5ft 10 in
Weight: 10st [stone], 12½ lbs[pounds]
Date of birth: 26/3/1894 [3 March]
Complexion: Fresh
Head: Med [medium]
Hair: Brown
Whiskers: - [none]
Visage: Oval
Forehead: Broad
Eyebrows: Brown
Eyes: Grey
Nose: Med large
Mouth: Small
Chin: Deep
Native Place: Hobart
Marks: Indistinct tattoo marks including G. J. , left forearm. Large scar on same arm below tattooing, dot between left thumb index finger & ring on left little finger.
8.7.13 P.O. Hobart - Disturbing the peace - Fined £1 & costs
11.2.14 Ditto - Indecent language - Fined 10/- or 7 days
15.10.18 S. C. Hobart - Maliciously damaging property - 12 months

George JOYCE, Police Gazette notice 1918

SC record 1918 George Joyce

Police Gazette Tasmania October 25, 1918. Page 205.
Tasmania police gazette for police information only
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POLICEGAZETTE/POL709-1-46P207

The key details included in this notice were transcribed directly from George Joyce's rap sheet:

Conviction for the offence of maliciously damaging property, sentenced to 12 months.
Native of Tasmania, a plasterer's labourer by trade, born 1894.
Height 5ft 10in.
Fresh complexion, brown hair, grey eyes, large nose.

Previous Gazette reference, 1918, p.180.
Distinguishing marks and Number of photograph: indistinct tattoo marks, including G. J. on left forearm, large scar on same arm below tattooing, dot between left thumb and index finger, ring on left little finger. Photo No. 506c.

Resources: the Casimaty family

Biographies

1. Companion to Tasmanian History
Source: https://www.utas.edu.au/library/companion_to_tasmanian_history/C/Casimaty%20family.htm

[Photo: Bill Casimaty, Senate candidate 1975 (AOT, PH30/1/5051)]
The Casimaty family first visited Australia when Georgios Kasimatis (1866–1959) worked in Sydney, 1891–96. He returned to Greece, but sent his four children to Australia. All ended up in Tasmania.

Georgios' oldest son Gregory (1890–1972) came to Sydney in 1905 and arrived in Hobart in 1914. He bought a fruit shop and turned it into a restaurant, the Britannia Café, but the brothers, Gregory, Anthony (1897–1977) and Basil (1902–1962), were best known for their wholesale and retail fishing enterprises. Casimaty Bros' fish shop (1918) was a Hobart landmark for decades. They were also among the pioneers of the crayfish and scallop industries, exporting crayfish to Sydney.

The brothers were extremely successful, playing a major role in Hobart commercial life, and Gregory and his wife Katina were particularly known for their philanthropy. Many other family members joined them in Hobart. In the 1940s the family began purchasing farming properties: Llanherne and Acton at Cambridge, Strathayr at Richmond, Christianmarsh at Bothwell, and Stockman at Kempton. Strathayr became particularly well-known for Bill Casimaty's flourishing instant lawn enterprise.

Further reading: H Kalis, Casimaty family, 1891–1996, Hobart, 1996.
Helen Kalis. Copyright 2006, Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies

2. Australian Dictionary of Biography
Source: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/casimaty-anthony-george-9978

CASIMATY BROTHERS: Gregory George (1890-1972), Anthony George (1897-1977) and Basil George (1903-1962), fishermen, fishmongers and restaurateurs, were born on 6 January 1890, 15 March 1897 and 2 February 1903 at Kithira, Greece, sons of Georgios Grigoriou Kasimatis (d.1959), farmer, and his wife Stamatina, née Kastrisios. The brothers received an elementary education and, with their father's encouragement, emigrated separately to Australia.

Gregory left Greece in 1905. Arriving in Sydney, he washed dishes at the Acropolis Café for nine months, spent several years in the fruit trade in Queensland and in 1911 came back to Sydney. In 1914 he went to Hobart where, with Peter Galanis, he established the Britannia Café in Elizabeth Street; next year he took over the business in partnership with his brother Anthony. Casimaty Brothers initially leased, then bought the premises occupied by their café and by the fish shop which they had added. By 1918 they had expanded into cray-fishing, exporting their catch to Sydney, and they later pioneered the scallop industry in Tasmania. Appointed fishmongers to the governor Sir James O'Grady, the brothers expanded their partnership to include Basil.

In 1928 Gregory returned to Kithira, married Katina (Kathleen) Haros and brought her to Tasmania. He visited New Zealand in 1935 to open the firm's crayfish markets there. The Casimatys developed seine-fishing in Australian waters, commissioning the trawler, Nelson, and acquiring the Margaret Twaits. In 1941 the Tasmanian Fisheries Board of Enquiry investigated allegations of monopolizing and of environmental damage by Casimatys' fishermen, only to find the claims unproven. Anticipating better markets, the brothers sent the boats to Sydney, but became disillusioned when Victor Vanges, skipper of the Margaret Twaits, was drowned off Eden and the trawlers were commandeered for war service in New Guinea.

During the Depression the Casimatys had provided hundreds of Christmas dinners for the needy and promoted a free-milk scheme for schoolchildren. In World War II the family supported the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Red Cross Society; for his contribution to the international organization, Gregory was awarded the Red Cross medal of Greece (1946) and the Silver Cross of Phoenix (1950). In 1945 Gregory's case against the Federal government for attempting to tax and to raise loans under the national security regulations was settled out of court.

Hobart's Greek Orthodox Church of St George was built in Antill Street in 1957 on land provided by the Casimatys. The family also gave land on Kithira for an old people's home which was named Kasimateion in their honour. Among the first Greeks to settle in Tasmania, the Casimatys supported later immigrants from their homeland and fostered Greek-Australian relations.

Portly and 5 ft 6 ins (168 cm) tall, Gregory was known for his hospitality and for his practical jokes. He was an active member (from 1936) of the Rotary Club, Hobart, he supported the Tasmanian Society for the Care of Crippled Children and he was foundation president (1953) of the Greek Community of Hobart and Tasmania. Kathleen shared her husband's community involvement; a life member of Elizabeth Street State School Mothers' Club and of the Inner Wheel Club, she was a member of Task Force Action for Migrant Women and acted as a volunteer interpreter for many years. Ill health obliged Gregory to retire in 1965. Survived by his wife, two sons and four daughters, he died on 22 March 1972 at Sandy Bay and was buried with Greek Orthodox rites in Cornelian Bay cemetery.

Anthony sailed from Greece in 1912 and worked in Sydney cafés before joining Gregory in Hobart in 1915. Anthony returned to Greece in 1931 where, two years later, he married Adamantia (Manty) Haros, sister of Gregory's wife. Back in Hobart, he was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and often acted as spokesman for the retail fish industry. A life member of the Goulburn Street State School Mothers' Club, Manty was a volunteer medical interpreter for the Greek community for forty years. Immaculately dressed and with impeccable manners, Anthony was small and rather shy, yet he had boundless energy, enjoyed life and indulged a passion for hunting. After some fifty years in the fish shop, he retired in 1967. Survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters, he died on 14 March 1977 at Sandy Bay and was buried in the same cemetery as his brothers.

Basil joined his brothers in Hobart in 1923, but went back to Greece in 1929 to care for their ageing parents. While there, he married Panagiota (Nota) Tzoutzouris in 1935; they were to remain childless. The couple came to Tasmania in 1939. Basil soon left the partnership to open the California Fruit Co. in Hobart. During the 1940s he purchased Stockman, a property at Kempton, on which he ran cattle and sheep, while Nota managed the fruit business. Responsible for introducing Greek films to Tasmania, he was president of the Greek Community of Hobart and Tasmania (1958-60) and of the Olympia Soccer Club. Survived by his wife, he died of a coronary occlusion on 18 August 1962 at Sandy Bay and was buried in Cornelian Bay cemetery.

Select Bibliography
G. V. Brooks, 30 Years of Rotary in Hobart (Hob, 1955)
Fisheries Newsletter, 7, no 1, Feb 1948
Mercury (Hobart), 27 Dec 1930, 10 Dec 1935, 23 July, 24 Dec 1941, 20 Aug 1962, 23 Mar 1972
Casimaty family papers (privately held).
Citation details
Anne Tucceri, 'Casimaty, Anthony George (1897–1977)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/casimaty-anthony-george-9978/text17139, published first in hardcopy 1993, accessed online 28 August 2024.
This article was published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, (Melbourne University Press), 1993

Films and Photographs
This film Coastal scallop fishing in southern Tasmanian waters was made by the Tasmanian Film Corporation in the 1940s. It documents the journey of scallops from being caught at sea to their sale on the waterfront and at Casimaty Bros.' fish shop in Elizabeth St. Hobart. The film has no sound and in parts is in poor condition, but it is well worth a viewing.

View online: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB869-1-965
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/AB869-1-965



Screenshot: The Casimaty Bros' shop sequence appears at 15.02. Watch to the end - there is a little joke from the original editors who run the film in reverse showing three men in a restaurant drinking beer and eating scallops and then undrinking the beer and uneating the scallops. The final frame shows a profile photograph of King George VI, father of Queen Elizabeth II.



Screenshot: a woman buying scallops from the boat at Constitution Dock, Hobart.



Screenshots: Casimaty Bros' sign, shopfront and customers, 35 Elizabeth St. Hobart, Tasmania





1. Film - Coastal scallop fishing in southern Tasmanian waters, including inspection from the Sea Fisheries vessel 'Allara' of legal size limits, selling scallops on the Hobart waterfront, Casimaty's fish shop, and IXL canned scallops.
Item Number: AB869/1/965
Further Description: 16ECINEG 16mm internegative, colour, no sound 18min 24sec, poor condition 480 ft. No.2 internegative D.F.P. Original record: 4092.
Start Date: 01 Jan 1940
End Date: 31 Dec 1949
Source: Tasmanian Archives
Format: film
Creating Agency: Department of Film Production (TA178) 01 Jan 1960 31 Dec 1977
Tasmanian Film Corporation (TA179) 01 Jan 1977 31 Dec 1982
Administrator, Tasmanian Film Corporation (TA1021) 01 Jan 1983 31 Dec 1993
Series: Films and Videos Produced and Acquired by the Agency (AB869) 01 Jan 1950 31 Dec 1995
View online: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB869-1-965
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/AB869-1-965

2. Film - Tasmanian Magazine Number 6 - Strathyr Mushrooms (Casimaty's) - violin maker Gordon Triffitt - mini motor racing model cars - shot tower jeweller Max Sawbridge. Sponsored by Tourist Department.
Item Number AB869/1/2707
Series Films and Videos Produced and Acquired by the Agency (AB869)
Start Date 01 Jan 1961 End Date 31 Dec 1962
Format film
View online AB869-1-2707https://youtu.be/BV9lFOvIFF8

3. 35mm colour transparency - Hobart - Elizabeth Street - Casimaty's "City Fish Supply" - shop front - March 1977
Item Number:NS3373/1/310
Further Description: Reproduction of the images to acknowledge Margaret Bryant as the photographer.
Start Date:01 Apr 1976 End Date: 01 Mar 1980
Source: Tasmanian Archives
Format: photograph
Creating Agency: Margaret Bryant (NG2652)01 Jan 1950 Series: Margaret Bryant Photographs (NS3373) 01 Apr 1976-01 Mar 1980
View online: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/NS3373-1-310/NS3373-1-310



Casimaty's City Fish Supply shopfront with fish shop rain pouring down (inside) the window displaying fresh fish, poultry and rabbits, photographed in 1977 (M. Bryant). The sign "THIS IS A METRIC SHOP" referred to the introduction of decimal currency to Australia in February 1966. 

Paper documents

4. Hobart- Premises of G. Casimaty- Complaint re. Nuisance Caused by Scallops and others
(vide report of Sergent Challenger)
Item Number: HSD1/1/3292
Start Date:04 Mar 1938 End Date:16 Dec 1938
Source: Tasmanian Archives
Format: file/volume Creating Agency: Department of Public Health (TA19)

5. Artwork, negatives, mock-ups for labels, stationery, containers, publications for Casimaty's Cafe
Item Number: NS1211/1/44
Start Date:01 Jan 1920
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/NS1211-1-44

Charged under the CRIMES ACT: brothers Bill, George and Tom NEVIN, 1909-1911

Brothers George, Tom and Bill NEVIN, sons of Thomas and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) NEVIN
Former A-G, G. Crosby GILMORE, Counsel for Tom Nevin 1911
Interpretation of the CRIMES ACT 1900: "incite" and "resist"

Wm John Nevin 1900

Subject: William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Photographer: unknown, possibly his father Thomas J. Nevin
Location and Date: Hobart, Tasmania, ca. 1897
Provenance: by descent, Thomas J. Nevin and family.
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

This is one of the saddest stories to emerge from publicly available records relating to the adult lives of the six surviving children born to parents, photographer and civil servant Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin (1847-1914) at Hobart, Tasmania, between 1872 and 1888.

It involves three of their four adult sons - George Ernest Nevin (known as Georgie) and Thomas J. Nevin jnr (known as Tom) who were arrested on identical charges on two separate occasions of inciting their brother William John Nevin (known as Bill) to resist arrest: the first on 29 June 1909 with George Nevin; and again on May 6, 1911 with Tom Nevin in another incident, this time involving assault by police of both brothers Bill and Tom Nevin. Where Constable Flude had succeeded in penalties for the charge in 1909 against George Nevin during the arrest of his brother Bill Nevin, he was sure he would succeed with the same charge in 1911 against Tom Nevin during another arrest of Bill Nevin but he failed, because this time the former Attorney-General G. Crosby Gilmore stepped in.

Police harassment of their father
This family first became associated with the police and judiciary when their father Thomas J. Nevin snr was contracted on colonial warrant as photographer servicing the courts and legal fraternity from the date of his marriage to Elizabeth Rachel Day at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart, Tasmania in 1872.

The incident which resulted in their son Bill Nevin's arrest on 26th June 1909, and the charge of incitement to resist arrest against his brother Georgie Nevin took place at the Ship Hotel, Collins Street, Hobart, but the incident which resulted in Bill Nevin's arrest on the same charge on May 5th, 1911 and the same related charges brought against his other brother Tom Nevin in June 1911, took place outside their parents' family residence, 82 Warwick Street, Hobart.

The property at Warwick Street was regularly surveilled by constables in the years after their father Thomas J. Nevin's dismissal by the Hobart City Council from the position (and residency) in December 1880 of Hobart Town Hall Keeper for drunkenness while on duty. In addition to full-time civil service as the Hall Keeper, Nevin's fourteen (14) years of government contractual work (1872 to 1886), which required the production of prisoner mugshots for the Municipal Police Office in Hobart's courts and prisons, among other duties as Special Constable during the Chiniquy riots of 1879, ensured his much too much familiarity with police brutality and judicial indifference, as police knew only too well. From 1878, when he was assigned Office Keeper for the HCC at the Town Hall to his dismissal in December 1880, he was privy to council and mayoral committee decisions affecting just about everyone in the greater Hobart region. He was also assigned assistant bailiff duties to senior detectives in the mid 1880s, a job guaranteed to raise hostility from those affected by house evictions etc etc.

Another source of information about police readily came from Thomas J. Nevin's younger brother, Constable John Nevin (William John Nevin, 1852-1891), known as Jack to the family. He had joined the civil service, aged 18 yrs in 1870, and was stationed at the Asylum, Cascades Prison for Males, Hobart by 1875. His service continued at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, as "Gaol Messenger", a rank which covered his duties as photographer's assistant to his brother, and as a hospital "Wardsman" until his untimely death from typhoid while still in service, aged 39 yrs old. His nephew Bill or Will (the subject of these arrests in 1909 and 1911) was given the exact same name at birth as his father's brother (William John Nevin), just as his brother Tom Nevin was given the exact same name as their father at birth (Thomas James Nevin).

Thomas J. Nevin snr was constantly harassed by constables, some of whom he recognised as ex-prisoners recruited to the police force in times of social unrest. Others held him responsible for their demotion in the ranks when he reported them for being drunk on security duty for the Town Hall during his time as Keeper. They regularly sought him out in Hobart's streets while meeting with friends, even hanging around outside his house, to lay charges for "obscene language" or school truancy of his children, or even singing ditties offensive to police within the confines of his own house, until he finally complained to the court he was being targeted as a "stereotype" . Tasmanian law allowed for charges to be brought, because even though Nevin was not on public property, he could still be heard by passers-by. He was inside the yard "abutting on Warwick Street" when using "very filthy language" according to the constables who seemed to appear out of nowhere at just the right moment.

TRANSCRIPT
CITY POLICE COURT. - The Police Magistrate (Mr. B. Shaw) and Mr. James Harcourt, J.P., adjudicated yesterday.
Thomas Nevin, labourer, was charged with having used obscene language in a house in Warwick street on the 9th inst.. He pleaded not guilty, but Constables Crane and Clark proved the offence. Defendant remarked that he was always brought up on the same charge. He thought he must be "stereotyped" with the offence. The Police Magistrate : I am afraid you are ; you have been convicted 33 times of the same charge. We order you to pay a fine of £5, in default you will be imprisoned for three months.

Source: THE MERCURY. (1898, September 21). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9431088

When fined 50/s- on Thursday, 14th March 1895 for obscene language which could be heard from the street, the Magistrate also applied for a notice to be issued to publicans prohibiting them from supplying liquor to Thomas Nevin, "operatic for twelve months". He also advised Thomas Nevin to seek medical attention.  The prohibition was impossible to enforce, however. With George Adams' Tasmanian Brewery located across the road on the corner of Elizabeth and Warwick Streets, just metres from the Nevin residence at 82 Warwick Street and in full view from their front door, both Thomas Nevin and son Bill would be tempted with easy access to alcohol the moment they left the house.

As for stereotypes, what were the common targets of social prejudice and opprobium in the 1890s, the decade which saw the rise of the Temperance movement? Was Thomas Nevin snr cast as the hot-tempered red-head, the drunken Irishman, garrulous to the point of madness with "no control over his unbridled tongue" as one Police Magistrate put it (Mercury 26 May 1897)? Or was he less than the masculine ideal - a soft and sensitive" artist-photographer" who hand-coloured his photographs of convicts - .i.e. prisoners? He had found himself the butt of that insult in the meeting of the Police Committee which sacked him from the Hobart Town Hall keeper position in December 1880. Then again, he might have cursed long and too loud the imperialist war-mongers wanting to send his sons off to fight the Boers. Neither Thomas J. Nevin snr nor any of his children volunteered service in the Imperial Forces at the Boer War (1899-1902) or at the First World War (1914-18). Pater familias and Wesleyan John Nevin snr had not brought his family across the world from Ireland to settle in Tasmania to see them sent off to fight another war. His nightmarish experiences fighting the French in waist-deep snow at the Canadian Rebellions in 1839-40 were set as example enough that none of his family should ever go to war again.

Warwick St Hobart 1890

Warwick and Elizabeth Streets, Hobart, Tasmania.
Thomas J. Nevin snr and family resided in this neighbourhood 1880s-1923
Detail of a view of Hobart, Domain and eastern shore taken from West Hobart
Pretyman Family (NG1012) 17 Aug 1892
Archives Office of Tasmania
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/NS1013-1-729

William John NEVIN, known as Bill or Will Nevin, the second son to survive to adulthood of photographer Thomas James Nevin and Elizabeth (Day) Nevin, was born at the Hobart Town Hall, Macquarie St. where his family resided during his father's incumbency as Town Hall Keeper. He was registered by his father at birth as William John Nevin on 14 March 1878 (see BMD records in Addenda below). The press reports of 6 May, 1911, however, stated he was arrested and booked as William James Nevin by police on two charges. It appears to be an error made twice by the same or different reporters at the Tasmanian News (May 6, 1911) and the Daily Post (August 19, 1911), although he may have changed his middle name "John" to "James" to avoid confusion with his uncle, his father's brother, Constable John Nevin (William John Nevin, 1852-1891). He was certainly not identical with another Tasmanian, unrelated to the Nevin family of Hobart called William John Nevin, born 16 October 1866, at Longford in the north of the island, son of farmer James Nevin and Mary (Hemphill) Nevin.

The Crimes Act 1900
Section 60 of the Crimes Act 1900 was used by police to bring the charge of incitement to resist arrest against brothers George Nevin in 1909 and Tom Nevin in June 1911. They were charged with having incited their brother Bill Nevin to resist Constable Flude in the execution of his duty on two separate occasions and two years apart, involving the same charge and the same constable. So while their brother Bill Nevin was the cause on each occasion of these charges filed against his two brothers during his arrest by police - and for each incident he was fined just a small amount -  it was George and Tom Nevin who were the real targets of a zealous Constable Flude's pursuit of this family, using the same charge of incitement under Section 60. In addition, a charge under Section 32 of the Crimes Act was used by police to accuse Tom Nevin in 1911 of aggravated assault of police. Prior to 1900, charges of obscene language brought against their father Thomas J. Nevin were applied under Amendment 1888 to the Police Act 1865.

"INCITE" and "RESIST"
Source: Crimes Act 1900
https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082
https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/cgi-bin/download.cgi/download/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082.txt



TRANSCRIPT

CRIMES ACT 1900
- SECT 60 Assault and other actions against police officers

60 Assault and other actions against police officers

(1AA) A person who hinders or resists, or incites another person to hinder or resist, a police officer in the execution of the officer's duty commits an offence.
Maximum penalty-- Imprisonment for 12 months or a fine of 20 penalty units or both.
(1) A person who assaults, throws a missile at, stalks, harasses or intimidates a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, although no actual bodily harm is occasioned to the officer, is liable to imprisonment for 5 years

(1A) A person who, during a public disorder, assaults, throws a missile at, stalks, harasses or intimidates a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, although no actual bodily harm is occasioned to the officer, is liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

(2) A person who assaults a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, and by the assault occasions actual bodily harm, is liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

(2A) A person who, during a public disorder, assaults a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, and by the assault occasions actual bodily harm, is liable to imprisonment for 9 years.

(3) A person who by any means--

(a)wounds or causes grievous bodily harm to a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, and

(b) is reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to that officer or any other person, is liable to imprisonment for 12 years.

(3A) A person who by any means during a public disorder--

(a) wounds or causes grievous bodily harm to a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, and

(b) is reckless as to causing actual bodily harm to that officer or any other person, is liable to imprisonment for 14 years.

(4) For the purposes of this section, an action is taken to be carried out in relation to a police officer while in the execution of the officer's duty, even though the police officer is not on duty at the time, if it is carried out--

(a) as a consequence of, or in retaliation for, actions undertaken by that police officer in the execution of the officer's duty, or

(b) because the officer is a police officer.

Source: https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082

The Case against George Nevin, 1909
Bill's younger brother George Ernest NEVIN (1880-1957) was the fifth child and fourth son born to photographer Thomas J. Nevin and Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin. He was the second surviving son born at the Hobart Town Hall during his father's residency as Town Hall keeper. In adulthood, George Nevin kept vegetable gardens for profit at his Penna estate near Richmond, Tasmania, and shared a carrier business with his older brothers Bill and Tom Nevin. He also kept an extensive collection of family memorabilia, including photographs taken by his father in the 1870s, and records of his younger brother Albert's pacers at the race track. Known as Georgie to his nieces and nephews, he lived with his older sister May Nevin in the big house at 23 Newdegate Street from the time of their father's death in 1923; neither was known to have married.

On 26 June 1909 at the Ship Hotel, Collins Street, Hobart, George Nevin intervened in the arrest of his brother Bill Nevin, who was charged with being drunk and disorderly. He was accused of inciting Bill to resist arrest, of jostling the arresting constables and calling on the crowd to protest. Bill Nevin pleaded guilty, George Nevin pleaded not guilty. Both were found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of 10/- or 7 days' imprisonment.

William and George Nevin, arrests 1909

TRANSCRIPT

CITY POLICE COURT.
MONDAY, JUNE 28. Before Aldermen H. T. Gould and D. Freeman, J's.P.
William Nevin pleaded guilty to a charge of having been drunk and disorderly in Collins street on June 20, and was ordered to pay a fine of 10/ or go to gaol for 7 days.

Inciting to Resist.
George Nevin pleaded not guilty to a charge of inciting one William Nevin a prisoner under arrest, to resist the police in the lawful execution of their duty. Constables Goss and Flude gave evidence to the effect that they had arrested William Nevin on a charge of being drunk and disorderly, and that the defendant tried to pull the prisoner away from them, his action causing the prisoner to resist violently. The defendant also jostled the arresting constables, and attempted to turn the crowd on to them. The Bench found the defendant guilty, and pointed out the seriousness of the offence to him. They ordered him to pay a fine of 10/. with 7 days' imprisonment as an alternative.

Source: CITY POLICE COURT. (1909, June 29). Daily Post (Hobart, Tas. : 1908 - 1918), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187875890



Above: Rabiteers, with George Nevin, extreme right, ca 1890
The verso is signed "George Nevn" [sic].
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2009 ARR.

The Case against Tom Nevin, 1911
Bill's elder brother Thomas James NEVIN (1874-1948) jnr, known as Tom (and Sonny to family), son of photographer Thomas James Nevin and Elizabeth (Day) Nevin, was born at his father's photographic studio, 140 Elizabeth St., Hobart Town, the second child born after elder sister Mary Florence Elizabeth (aka May) Nevin in 1872. He was given the same name as his father but did not follow his father's profession of photographer. Tom established a boot-making business at 236 Elizabeth Street, Hobart, in the early 1900s, near the corner of Warwick Street where his parents and five of his siblings - May (born 1872), Bill (born 1878), George (born 1880), Minnie (born 1884) and Albert (born 1888) - had taken up residence at No. 82 Warwick St., opposite the Domeny coach stables at 69-75 Warwick St.

Tom Nevin married Gertrude Jane Tennyson Bates, daughter of bandmaster Walter Tennyson Bates on 6 Feb. 1907 at the Methodist Parsonage, Melville St. and settled into family life in Lochner Street, West Hobart, where Gertrude gave birth to a son Walter in 1909. The child survived just one year. He died of bronchial pneumonia and was buried - on 16th August 1911 - just three days before Tom was called into court to face the magistrate's decision - on 19th August 1911 - for the charge against him of inciting his brother Bill to resist arrest.

Without doubt, Tom Nevin's emotional suffering that week was immeasurable. He was facing imprisonment for an unfounded and unproven charge. Costs incurred at trial over months by his legal counsel, the well-heeled former Attorney-General G. Crosby Gilmore, had placed considerable financial distress on his wife, and with the sudden death of their baby son Walter just days before the court's decision, they would have questioned whether Bill Nevin, the brother whose scuffles with police had led to their reduced circumstances, was ever going to be safe.



Subject: Tom or "Sonny" Nevin (T. J. Nevin jnr)
Location and date: Peacock's Jam Factory, Salamanca Place, Hobart, 1905
Photographer: unknown
Provenance: Nevin family by descent
Copyright © KLW NFC Group Private Collection


Tom Nevin was defending the charge of inciting his brother Bill Nevin to resist arrest on the evening of 5th May, 1911 outside the Nevin family residence at 82 Warwick Street, Hobart when the police additionally accused him of assaulting them under Section 32 of the Crimes Act 1900. On August 19th, 1911, the Police Magistrate finally gave his reserved decision and dismissed the case.



Source: https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/download.cgi/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca190082

Press reports May to August 1911
In each case leading to the arrests of all three Nevin brothers in 1909 and 1911, Constable Flude consistently lied about the sequence of events and rough handling by police. In the first of these press reports during the case against Tom Nevin in 1911, Constable Flude grossly exaggerated his account of the arrest of Bill Nevin with accusations that he "acted like a madman" and needed "four policemen" to take him to the police station.

1. CITY POLICE COURT (1911, May 6). Tasmanian News (Hobart, Tas), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187120196

TRANSCRIPT

CITY POLICE COURT
At the City Police Court to-day, before Mr. W. O. Wise, P.M. Inspector Weston prosecuting. William James [sic, John not James] Nevin was charged with having been drunk and disorderly in Elizabeth street on May 5, and with having resisted Constable Flude in the execution of his duty.
Constable Flude stated the defendant was very much under the influence of drink, and using indecent language. When witness attempted to arrest him, he acted like a madman, and it took four policemen to bring him to the station.
The P.M. imposed a fine of 10s, or in default seven days in imprisonment, on the first, and £1, or 14 days, on the other charge.

Source: CITY POLICE COURT (1911, May 6). Tasmanian News (Hobart, Tas. : 1883 - 1911), p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187120196

G. Crosby Gilmore, Counsel for the defence
Tom Nevin's defence, former Attorney-General G. Crosby Gilmore, brought Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin, mother of the two brothers involved in this case, to testify in court that when police were called by onlookers, the cause of blood on her son Tom's face was not from any event that took place inside the house. Her sons had not been fighting with each other. Her son Tom was in his shop when he saw a man in a scuffle with his brother Bill outside on the street. When the police arrived, it was Bill they arrested, accusing Tom who followed them, crying out to police not to kill his brother, that he was inciting Bill to resist arrest. It was then that Tom's lip was cut and bloodied from police assaulting him. Mr Gilmore made it very clear to the court that Tom Nevin was an emotional man who had never before been in court, that he was innocent of the charge of inciting his brother to resist arrest, and that the blood on his face was from police striking him. Inspector Weston, counsel for the plaintiff, counter-attacked by suggesting to Tom Nevin that his brother Bill had kicked a constable so hard in the groin it "nearly ruined him for life".

Defence Counsel G. Crosby Gilmore effectively argued that Bill Nevin was resisting arrest BEFORE Tom Nevin ran to his brother's rescue. This was first inadvertently admitted by Constable Flude himself on June 2, (1911) in court. When questioned by Inspector Weston, he agreed that Bill had resisted "before his brother interfered? Oh, yes". The second argument centred on the vagaries around legal definitions of INTENT: it was not Tom Nevin's intention to incite his brother nor to obstruct police, he was simply begging the police not to be too rough with his brother, G. Crosby Gilmore argued, and there was nothing illegal in that. The case was dismissed, the charge dropped against Tom Nevin.



Defending Tom Nevin was former Attorney-General, G. C. Gilmore
Photographic portrait of the Hon. G. C. GILMORE Attorney-General of Tasmania 1904-06
Archives Office Tasmania. Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/PH30-1-9972/PH30-1-9972

2. INCITING TO RESIST. (1911, June 2). Tasmanian News (Hobart, Tas.), p. 4 (5.30 EDITION).
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187122698

TRANSCRIPT

INCITING TO RESIST

THE CONSTABLE'S EVIDENCE

A WARM JOB

Thomas Nevin was charged at the City Police Court today with having incited Wm. Nevin to resist Constables Flude and Jackson at Hobart on May 5.

He pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr G. C. Gilmore. Inspector Weston prosecuted.
Constable Flude said that on the night of the 5th May he had occasion to arrest the defendant's brother, Wm. Nevin. The defendant came from out of their house. He was in a very excited state, and was calling out "Don't murder him, " and also "Give him a chance". At the time they had William Nevin on the ground, where he was struggling and kicking violently. Defendant kept coming towards them and inciting him to resist. When they got Wm. Nevin on his feet he began to kick, and they - Constable Jackson and himself - found it necessary to call help. Defendant followed them down to the station, continually singing out. Going down he kept repeating , "Don't kill the man. If he's dead in the morning there will be plenty of witnesses." They gave the arrested man a chance to walk, but he refused. Defendant, Thomas Nevin, accused the police of having assaulted him, He (witness) then told him that only for him being a decent fellow he would have put him where his brother was.
Mr Weston: - Did the interference of Thomas Nevin cause William Nevin to resist? Oh, yes, I should say so.
But did he resist before his brother interfered? Oh, yes.
What did Thomas Nevin do to make William Nevin to resist? His brother calling out caused Wm Nevin to resist.
Mr Gilmore: - Did Wm Nevin's kicking and all that cause you to use him rather roughly - No, I don't believe to being rough.
Constable Wm. Jackson gave corroborative evidence. The defendant rushed up when they were arresting his brother, and said, " Oh, my poor brother, you are killing him."
To Mr. Wise: - There was a disturbance in the defendant's house, and he heard a voice calling out, "Oh, Bill", "Oh Bill," and when the defendant came to the door there was blood all over him.
Constable Clements gave evidence that he had been called to the assistance of Constables Flude and Jackson, who were taking the present defendant's brother to the police station, He corroborated the evidence of the other witnesses.
Mr. Gilmore said that defendant, Nevin, has never been in a police court before, He was a man of intensely emotional character and had a wholesome fear of the law. In a case like this the Bench should look at intent. The intention of defendant all the time was to ask the police not to hurt his brother, and he had no intention whatever of inciting him to resist.
The defendant, Thomas Nevin, said that he was working at his shop on the night of the 5th inst., when he heard a tussle near his door. He went to the window and a saw a man with his brother, who was in a state of intoxication. His brother was then brought in, but he went out again by the back way. There was some trouble in the street after that and his brother was arrested by a policeman. The constables were very rough, and he said "Give him a chance, let him up." At that time they had his brother on the ground across the gutterway. He went towards his brother, and one of the policemen swung back and hit him (witness) in the face. He went back to his shop, and then came out and followed the police. They were carrying his brother, but would insist on carrying him with his head lower than his feet, and witness asked them several times to carry him properly. He did not at any time incite his brother to resist.
Mr Gilmore: - What was your condition - your feeling - at the time? I was very much broken up at the time, and was crying part of the way.
To Mr. Weston: - There was no disturbance in the house, only that caused by his brother.
Mr. Weston: - Did you see your brother kick the police? No, I did not.
Elizabeth Nevin, mother of the defendant, corroborated the statement of her son.
Henry John Mills also gave evidence.
Mr. Gilmore: - Did you see the defendant inciting Wm Nevin to resist? - No, I did not: but I heard him screaming and crying, and saying something about killing.
It was decided at this stage to adjourn the case till Friday next.

Source: INCITING TO RESIST. (1911, June 2). Tasmanian News (Hobart, Tas.), p. 4 (5.30 EDITION)
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article187122698

Elizabeth Rachel (Day) Nevin testified in court that neither of her sons Tom or Bill had been fighting inside her house, nor had Tom any blood on his face until he was struck by police.

Elizabeth Rachel Nevin 1900

Detail of larger portrait of Elizabeth Rachel Nevin nee Day (1847-1914) taken ca. 1900
Wife of by photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923
Mother of the three sons Tom, George and Bill Nevin arrested in 1909 and 1911
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

3. POLICE COURTS. (1911, June 3). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), p. 8.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10103238

TRANSCRIPT

INCITING TO RESIST THE POLICE
Thomas J. Nevin was charged with having incited his brother Wm. Nevin to resist the police whilst the latter was under arrest for being drunk and disturbing the peace. He denied the charge and was defended by Mr. Crosby Gilmore. Inspector Weston conducted the case.
Constable Flude said that about 9.15 pm on the 5th ult. he was called to a disturbance at defendant's house in Warwick street near Elizabeth street where they had occasion to arrest Wm. Nevin who was drunk and disturbing the peace. Defendant interfered, was very excited and kept calling out not to kill his brother not to murder him but to give him a chance. At the time witness had Wm. Nevin on the ground where he was struggling and kicking violently. Witness told the defendant to desist his interference or he would get into trouble. Constable Jackson blew his whistle and as they got Wm. Nevin to his feet the prisoner commenced kicking. Constables Clements and Hudson came up and the four of them had to carry Nevin to the police station. Defendant followed and interfered on the way and accused the police of having assaulted him and cut his lip. His conduct caused the prisoner to further resist and became more violent.
In reply to Mr Gilmore: We were not rough with the prisoner at all. We were not so severe on him as we should have been as my leg was painful the next day from his kicking. Hitherto I regarded the defendant as a decent man; he might be very emotional. I will swear that one of the other constables did not hit him but he asserted that he had had been struck by the police.
Constable Wm Jackson gave corroborative evidence and swore positively that neither he nor the other constables struck the defendant; when he came out of the house there was blood on defendant's face and he was very excited. There was a crowd outside urging the constables to interfere as they were "killing one another in the house".
Constable Clements gave similar evidence.
Mr Gilmore said the defendant had never been in a court of any sort before and had no intention of breaking the law; he was excited over his brother being taken to the lock-up.
The defendant gave evidence denying the charge. He got excited over the police dragging his brother along the ground and pleaded for him being given a chance when one of the constables swung his arm backwards and struck him as he (witness) stood behind. He only spoke to the police because he considered the police were treating his brother too roughly.
Inspector Weston: Do you know that your brother kicked one of the constables and nearly ruined him for life? - No I do not.
Inspector Weston: And after you interfered he became more violent.
Elizabeth Nevin, defendant's mother, swore that defendant did not leave the house with his mouth bleeding and that there was no disturbance inside.
Henry T Mills, called for the defence, said that W. Nevin was drunk and very violent and the defendant was screaming crying and shouting, "They'll kill him."
The further hearing of the case was adjourned till Friday next for the consideration of the legal point of whether what the defendant did amounted to an intention to incite the prisoner to resist.

Source: POLICE COURTS. (1911, June 3). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 8.
Link:https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10103238

4. WHAT IS INCITING? (1911, June 30). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10106117.

TRANSCRIPT
WHAT IS INCITING?

A LEGAL TECHNICALITY.

The adjourned hearing of the case in which Thomas Nevin was charged with inciting a prisoner to resist came on again yesterday at the Hobart Police Court, before Mr. W. O. Wise, P.M., when Mr. Gilmore, counsel for the defendant, addressed the Bench at length on the law regarding such an offence.
Mr. Gilmore said defendant's intention was to get the police to be less rough with his brother, who at the time was under arrest. He had absolutely no intention to incite his brother to resist. If a man was doing something perfectly legal in itself, and something followed from it which he did not intend and of which he had no conception, he was not responsible. There was nothing illegal in Nevin's begging the police not to be too rough with his brother, and there was no proof that he intended to incite his brother to resist. He submitted as a general principle that under any penal statute intent is a necessary ingredient, and must be proved unless the statute in express words negatives [legal use of word as verb] the need of proving such intent, or there was a necessary inference to be drawn from the wording of the statute that intent need not be proved. According to the law, as he read it, there was certainly nothing which directly negatived the need for proving intent, nor could any inference be drawn in that respect. He further submitted that Nevin, who was admittedly a decent fellow, and had never been in court before, was not guilty of inciting his brother to resist the police. He had no intention of inciting, nor did he believe that he was inciting.
The P.M. said he did not believe that Nevin said the words with the idea of inciting his brother to resist. The fact, however, remained that he did use them. He would go into the law on the point, and give a decision later.

Source: WHAT'IS INCITING? (1911, June 30). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10106117

5. CHARGE OF INCITING TO RESIST. (1911, August 19). Daily Post (Hobart, Tas.), p. 5.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article178350509

TRANSCRIPT

CHARGE OF INCITING TO RESIST.
INTERESTING JUDGMENT.

The Police Magistrate (Mr. W. O. Wise) gave his reserved decision on August 30 in the case in which Thomas Nevin was charged with having incited a prisoner, his brother William James [sic - John, not James] Nevin, to resist Constables Flude and Jackson in the execution of their duty at Hobart on May 5.
Mr. Wise stated: "The defendant in this information, Thomas Nevin, was charged with having incited a person to resist. The defendant pleaded not guilty, and was defended by Mr. G. Grosby Gilmore. The evidence of the constables who had the said William James [sic] Nevin under lawful arrest was that the defendant Thomas Nevin was calling out 'Don’t kill him,' meaning the prisoner, and 'Give him a chance,' and such like expressions. The prisoner resisted violently, and had to be practically carried to the station. The defendant gave evidence on his own behalf, and stated that he did not attempt or intend to incite his brother to resist, but that his object in speaking to the police was to protect his brother, as he thought he was being roughly handled. The counsel quoted a number of authorities as to the meaning of the word ‘incite,’ and contended that there was no intention on the part of the defendant to incite his brother to resist.
“As far as I have been able to ascertain there is no direct decision upon what amounts to inciting a prisoner to resist, and I have come to the conclusion that each case must be decided upon its own merits. Mr. Gilmore contended that there must be some act or words of the defendant which showed that he intended to incite the prisoner to resist, although I can conceive such a case where a person, without addressing a prisoner directly, but by remarks to the arresting constable, would incite a prisoner to resist. In this case the strongest factor in the defendant's favor was that before he came upon the scene of the arrest his brother was violently resisting the constables.
"Upon perusing the evidence I have endeavored to ascertain whether the conduct of the defendant incited the prisoner, and I have come to the decision that although the conduct of the defendant, and also his remarks were most indiscreet yet they were not the cause of the prisoner resisting the police. The information will therefore be dismissed."

Source: Daily Post (Hobart, Tas. : 1908 - 1918), Saturday 19 August 1911, page 5
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article178350509



Thomas James Nevin jnr, known as Tom Nevin (1874-1948)
Also known as Sonny to family, taken by a family member ca. 1947
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2020 Private Collection

Tom Nevin with wife Gertrude Tennyson Bates, (1883-1958) and their second son Athol Clarence Nevin (born  Launceston, 26 October 1915), travelled to California in 1920 to reside for a time with his wife's family who had migrated there in the early 1900s. They returned to Hobart in 1922. Tom Nevin joined the Salvation Army soon after. He was farewelled as Sergeant Tom Nevin on his death in 1948, his address given as 23 Newdegate St. North Hobart, where three of his siblings - May, George, and Albert and family - still resided. By 1949, Tom and Gertrude's son Athol, who had served in WW2 and changed his middle name to "Tennyson", was resident in Melbourne, working as a storeman.

Some Quiet Observations
Bill Nevin's personal reasons for finding himself in the midst of altercations in public and the calls for his arrest might never be known. He may have inherited his father's alleged alcoholism more as a genetic disorder than a behavioural issue when arrested for being drunk and disorderly in 1909, and drunk and disturbing the peace in 1911. Temperance was certainly a factor in the lives of his nieces and nephews, remembered and noted even today for abstinence. Noted too were the family's objections to war. Not since the emigration of their grandfather John Nevin to Tasmania in 1852 would a single direct descendant ever serve in a war, which was not the case for the other (unrelated) Nevin family who had settled at Hadspen in the north of the island. James and Mary (Hemphill) Nevin 's grandson Archibald Reinmuth Nevin was 24 yrs old when he was killed in action in Belgium on 23 September 1916.

Just possibly, Bill Nevin in his twenties was simply an exuberant, happy fellow, given to drinking and dancing and singing too loudly in public. But to authority he was hostile, which might explain his furious response to provocations resulting in scuffles and arrests with the ensuing brutal treatment by police, and the anxiety of both his brothers to protect him. Tom had shouted at Constables Flude and Jackson not to murder his brother Bill during the incident outside the house in Warwick St. on the evening of May 6, 1911, fearing they might actually kill him.

Whatever the incident, the police saw Bill Nevin as fair game, a target for their social prejudices and physical abuse for several reasons, and not all to do with the law. They would likely interpret his attention-seeking behaviour and snappy dress-sense as signs he might not be a cis-gender male. Since Bill Nevin was working as a shop assistant during these years (Denison electoral rolls 1905 ...), he would dress like all front-of-store men who were employed at large shops such as Fitzgerald's and Moran & Cato's or at the fancy shoe-shop called Ray's (photo below). He would suit-up in a three-piece, button-hole a gold chain for his fobwatch, wax his moustache, curl his forelock, and pin a pansy to his lapel, as in this photograph ca. 1897:

Wm John Nevin 1900

Sporting a fancy fedora with a teardrop crease and front pinch in finest wool (as in the signed negative photo below ca. 1908), his grooming fit the stereotype of the gay bachelor shop assistant for whom Constable Flude would undoubtedly pursue to find a law with a view to arrest.



Ray's shoe store, Hobart, Tasmania (c1900s)
Photographer; C. P. Ray, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office: album at Flickr

Bill's single marital status too was another unknown aspect of his family life. His three siblings - brothers Tom and Albert and younger sister Minnie were either married by 1909 or would eventually marry and have children, but William seemed to have stayed single. But so too it seems, had George and his eldest sister May (Mary Florence Elizabeth Nevin) who was rumoured to cross-dress and follow her brother George around at night - she never married and even devoted her life to her father, caring for him until his death in 1923. Bill Nevin wore the stereotypic signs which police perceived to contradict the conventional masculine norms of the day as indices of deviance. Tasmania decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, the last Australian state or territory to do so, and was the only state to criminalise "cross-dressing", which was decriminalised in 2001 [!!!]. Perhaps Bill Nevin was gay, perhaps not. The lack of  historical marriage records in his name means little but he certainly went a-wooing with prints such as this one signed "Yours Truly, Will". If the intended recipients of this print were strictly female, no evidence has yet emerged that he actually married one. That he signed himself "Will" here when immaculately dressed to the nines while his siblings called him by the more vernacular  "Bill" was another sure sign he saw himself well above the status of the grubby policemen who stalked him.



Negative inscribed by Bill Nevin, signing himself as "Will"
"Yours Truly, Will": William John Nevin ca. 1905-1910
Print from a glass negative of Thomas J. Nevin's third son William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Group and KLW NFC Imprint, Shelverton Private Collection ARR

Wm John NEVIN, prison record 1920
Soon after the death of their father Thomas J. Nevin in 1923, his four adult children - Bill (William), George,  Albert and May (Mary Florence) Nevin - moved to the large property at 23 Newdegate St. North Hobart. Albert had married in Launceston in 1917 and brought his wife Emily Maud Davis with him. They occupied the small cottage on the property.  Bill, George and May were single and lived in the big house fronting Newdegate Street. Bill was working as "cook" in 1920 when lost his temper, unleashing a series of expletives. He was photographed at the Police Office Hobart on 8th December, 1920, charged with using obscene language. The charge "obscene language", of course, might have denoted any mild curse or epithet. These sorts of menial and trivial charges were a source of revenue for the Tasmanian Government in an era when personal income tax was yet to be formally legislated.





Name: Nevin, William
Record Type: Prisoners
Year:1920
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1483648
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/GD63-1-5P726

William Nevin, charged with obscene language on 8th December 1920, was sentenced to three days at the Police Office, Hobart. These police records in Book 7 were damaged by fire at the Hobart Gaol, but some detail is visible: William's occupation was "cook" in 1920, for example. His moustache had become a shaggy half-horseshoe once again.

Wm John NEVIN, accidental death 1927
William (Bill or Will) Nevin established a carrier and furniture removal business in the early 1920s which he partnered with his elder brother Tom, younger brother Albert and brother-in-law James Drew who had married their younger sister Minnie Nevin in 1907. They had vans as well as carts and horses, operating from Morrison St. Hobart Wharf and nearby Market Place. When siblings May, Albert, George and Bill Nevin moved to the property at 23-29 Newdegate St. in 1923 on the death of their father Thomas J. Nevin (registered as "photographer" on his burial certificate), Bill maintained the carrier business there until his untimely death in a horse and cart accident in 1927.

William John (Bill) Nevin was 49 years old when he died in a horse-and-cart accident on the 28th October 1927. The accident and coroner's inquest were reported in the press, 31st October 1927. The death of Bill Nevin, victim of drink, was served up as a moral about alcohol for Mercury readers.



William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Verso inscription "William J. Nevin, Furniture Removalist"
Unattributed, no date, ca. 1926? Died in a cart accident, 1927.
From the estate of William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

TRANSCRIPT
FALL FROM A CART
DEATH Of WILLIAM JOHN NEVIN.
VICTIM OF DRINK.
The Coroner (Mr. E. TV. Turner) found, on Saturday, that William John Nevin, aged 49 years, who died in the Hobart Public Hospital on Wednesday last, succumbed to wounds accidentally received as the result of having fallen from a cart in Elizabeth Street the previous day. At the inquest, the police were represented by Inspector A. Bush.
The story of the accident was told by Percy Johnson, a carter, living in Murray Street. On Tuesday night, about 8.20, he said, Nevin and a man named Leslie Smith came to his house under the influence of drink. Nevin's cart was standing outside the Waratah Hotel. Witness joined the two men, and had a drink with them In the hotel. Smith was not served with intoxicants, as "he had had too many." The three then got into the cart, and witness intended to drive the other two home. However, Nevin Insisted on driving, and they went along Warwick Street and down Elizabeth Street at full gallop. They "pulled up" outside McLaren's Hotel, in Collins Street, and when they got out of the cart a man said to witness, "There are two sergeants on the corner watching you." Witness got the two men into the cart again, and took charge. Nevin and Smith sat down. Witness drove up Elizabeth Street until just before Warwick Street. Smith's legs were hanging over the back, and he said, "Pull up. I am going to get out." Witness "pulled up " and Smith and Nevin got out. A few minutes later they got Into the cart again. Nevin stood up and made a dash forward. He snatched the reins from witness, and fell over the side. Witness felt a bump, and when he got out he saw Nevin on the ground, with the reins round his foot and his leg through the wheel. He drove Nevin and Smith to the Public Hospital.

Charles Harold Dowsing, an eye-witness of the events which occurred when the cart returned up Elizabeth Street, near Warwick Street, corroborated the evidence given by Johnson. Smith was not called.

Dr. B. M. Carruthers, House Surgeon at the Public Hospital, said there were hardly any signs of external injury on the deceased when he was admitted to hospital. He was injured severely internally. His collar-bone was broken, a broken rib had pierced a lung, and another had pierced his heart. Death was due, in the first place, to shock, and, secondly, to collapse caused by haemorrhage.

The Coroner said that deceased was another victim of drink. His finding would be that death was due to injuries accidentally received as a result of a fall from a cart in Elizabeth Street, Hobart. The moral was obvious.

Source: FALL FROM A CART (1927, October 31). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas), p. 9.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24206465

In Memoriam notice from Bill Nevin's siblings, 1928

In Memoriam 1828 Nevin family Hobart

Family Notices (1928, October 26). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 186 - 1954), p. 1.
https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article24236425

Addenda

1. GAY YOUNG THINGS
These photographs were passed down by descent from the estate of William (Bill) Nevin. They were taken in the Edwardian period, the years 1900s-1920s named for fashions set by the Prince of Wales [King Edward VIII] when young working class men who liked to dress for occasions favoured a three piece suit, rounded shirt collars, cuffs, a Prince Albert fob chain and and a wide-brimmed fedora, the sort worn by Prince Edward when he visited Tasmania in 1920.



One of Thomas and Elizabeth's four adult sons -
Possibly George or Tom (Thomas J. jnr) or Bill (William John) Nevin ca. 1901
Posed in best suit - full length portrait with wicker whatnot.
Family photograph taken at home by his father Thomas Nevin snr
From the estate of William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection 2020 ARR.



Subject: two well-dressed young men, unidentified, seated on a studio railing
Photographer: Burrows & Co. Studio, Launceston
Location and date: Launceston Tasmania ca. 1910
Details: Cabinet photograph printed as a postcard
From the estate of William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection



Subject: two well-dressed young men, unidentified, one seated one standing
Photographer: unknown
Location and date: possibly Melbourne or Sydney ca. 1923
Details: Cabinet photograph printed as a postcard
Verso inscribed with mostly illegible information about dancing to "The Blue Lagoon"
From the estate of William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Group & KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

POSTCARD verso: "... they have a lot of different dances over here but they have grand hall's & always a orchestra playing they play the Blue Lagoon for a Barn Dance and it goes all right ..."

This recording made for the 1923 film "The Blue Lagoon" is most likely the music mentioned by the writer of this postcard.



"The Blue Lagoon" is a lost 1923 British-South African silent film adaptation of Henry De Vere Stacpoole's 1908 novel of the same name about children who come of age while stranded on a tropical island ....
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Lagoon_(1923_film)#Development
https://youtu.be/iTlbuA20ThI?feature=shared

2. BDM RECORDS: William John (Bill) NEVIN (1878-1927)

1878: Birth registration



Name: Nevin, William John
Record Type: Births
Gender: Male
Father: Nevin, Thomas
Mother: Day, Elizabeth Rachel
Date of birth: 14 Mar 1878
Registered: Hobart 1878
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES: 1093874
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1093874

1927: Burial registration
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1560157,Church of England EE - Page 24, Plot 277





Nevin, William John
Record Type: Deaths
Age: 49
Description: Last known residence: 23 Newdegate St
Property: Cornelian Bay Cemetery
Date of burial: 28 Oct 1927
File number: BU 26646
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1560157
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1560157


3. BDM RECORDS: Thomas James "Tom" NEVIN (1874-1948)
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/976011

1874: Birth registration



Nevin, Thomas James
Record Type: Births
Gender: Male
Father: Nevin, Thomas James
Mother: Day, Elizabeth Rachel
Date of birth: 16 Apr 1874
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1874
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES: 976011
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/976011


1907: Marriage to Gertrude Jane Tennyson BATES

Nevin, Thomas James
Record Type: Marriages
Spouse: Bates, Gertrude Jane Tennyson
Date of marriage: 06 Feb 1907
Where married: Melville Street, Hobart
Registration year:1907
File number: 465
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1940114
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1940114


1909-1911: Birth and death of son Walter Sydney Tennison NEVIN



Name: Nevin, Walter Sydney Tennyson
Record Type: Births
Gender: Male
Father: Nevin, Thomas James
Mother: Tennyson Bates, Gertrude Jane
Parent occupation: Storeman
Date of birth: 09 Dec 1909
Registered: Hobart
Registration year: 1910
Central registration number: 711
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:2209131
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/2091128




DEATH from bronchial pneumonia: Nevin, Walter Sydney Tennison
Record Type: Deaths
Gender: Male
Date of death: 14 Aug 1911
Where died: Paternoster Row, Hobart
Registration year: 1911
File number: 1141
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1998961
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1998961


Wallet 1900s

Leather wallet with initials "W. J. Nevin" 1880s-1927
From the estate of William John Nevin (1878-1927)
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint Private Collection

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