Portraits of older women by Thomas Nevin 1870s

This selection of studio portraits taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the early 1870s of otherwise unidentified older women includes just one whose name is inscribed verso: Mrs Morrison. Who might she have been? A servant, a farmer, a post-mistress, some relation to Askin Morrison, ship owner, of Morrison Street, opposite Franklin Wharf, Hobart? Or Mrs Morrison, teacher of Kangaroo Point whose health had forced her to retire (Mercury, 6 December 1872).  Perhaps she was Mrs Ellen Morrison, licensee of the Launceston Hotel, Brisbane St. on a visit south to Hobart? Whoever this sitter was, she appears to have worked hard all her life, no fuss or frills about it.

The business-like stare



Full length cdv on plain mount: Mrs Morrison (name inscribed verso) wore a three-quarter length, light-coloured, thick check-weave shawl pinned at the neck with a brooch over a white scarf for this important occasion. Her dark dress shows braiding  in rows on the bodice and cuffs. She had pinned a thin plait over her head at the back. Her scowling stare straight at the camera under thunderous eyebrows might suggest excitement at having her likeness taken, a rare event perhaps and possibly an expensive one, or fascination with process, or simply impatience with the ever affable, rather humorous, and good-looking thirty-ish Mr. Nevin.

STUDIO DECOR: Mrs Morrison sat on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material, her left arm resting on his table with the griffin-shaped legs. Noticeably absent from the table is any decoration, such as a vase or book, which just might indicate that Nevin charged a little extra for flowers which his assistant would then hand-tint, but the client declined the offer. Or perhaps it was winter when flowers were not available. Behind the table hangs the backdrop sheet painted with the usual vista of tiles on a patio terrace, an Italianate balcony, and a river meandering through a valley in the distance, partially obscured by the drape.The carpet pattern of lozenges and chain links features in some but not all of these full-length portraits.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca. 1870-1875.
Verso inscribed "Mrs Morrison" in black ink with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 10 November 2014
TMAG Ref: Q14529



Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount: Mrs Morrison (name inscribed verso) wore a three-quarter length, light-coloured, thick check-weave shawl pinned at the neck with a brooch over a white scarf for this important occasion. Her dark dress shows braiding  in rows on the bodice and cuffs. She had pinned a thin plait over her head at the back. Her scowling stare straight at the camera under thunderous eyebrows might suggest excitement at having her likeness taken, a rare event perhaps and possibly an expensive one, or fascination with process, or simply impatience with the ever affable, rather humorous, and good-looking thirty-ish Mr. Nevin.

STUDIO DECOR: Mrs Morrison sat on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material, her left arm resting on his table with the griffin-shaped legs. Noticeably absent from the table is any decoration, such as a vase or book, which just might indicate that Nevin charged a little extra for flowers which his assistant would then hand-tint, but the client declined the offer. Or perhaps it was winter when flowers were not available. Behind the table hangs the backdrop sheet painted with the usual vista of tiles on a patio terrace, an Italianate balcony, and a river meandering through a valley in the distance, partially obscured by the drape. The carpet pattern of lozenges and chain links features in some but not all of these full-length portraits.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca. 1870-1875.
Verso inscribed "Mrs Morrison" in black ink with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 10 November 2014
TMAG Ref: Q14529

Hat, bag and umbrella



Full length cdv on plain mount: A mature woman [unidentified] wearing a short thick jacket with six metallic buttons over a dark dress buttoned up from the hem, a flat hat decorated with a large floral arrangement, and a brooch on a dark ribbon at her throat. She decided to keep her outdoor possessions in view for the capture, her closed umbrella and handbag held tight in gloved hands. She sat on Nevin's low chair covered with a shiny material, her left arm resting on the table with the griffin-shaped legs. No flowers or books were placed on the table, perhaps not to obscure the painted wall hanging behind with Italianate tiling and balcony giving onto a river scene which is very clear in this photograph. The drape is on the viewer's left, whereas in others, the drape is on the right in front of the wall hanging. This sitter ponders the experience by directing her frontal gaze slightly to the left of the camera, her lips pressed together and cheeks puffed out as though holding her breath.

Studio portrait by Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1870-75, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart
Scans courtesy © The Private Collection of Marcel Safier 2005 ARR.
NOTES Courtesy of owner Marcel Safier:
"Subject not known. It came in an album I bought from a Tasmanian dealer at a Sydney collector's fair in 2001. The pencil numbering on the rear is my own cataloguing system. The mount is 64mm x 102mm ... It very closely resembles the mounts used by Bock previously."



Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount : A mature woman [unidentified] wearing a short thick jacket with six metallic buttons over a dark dress buttoned up from the hem, a flat hat decorated with a large floral arrangement, and a brooch on a dark ribbon at her throat. She decided to keep her outdoor possessions in view for the capture, her closed umbrella and handbag held tight in gloved hands. She sat on Nevin's low chair covered with a shiny material, her left arm resting on the table with the griffin-shaped legs. No flowers or books were placed on the table, perhaps not to obscure the painted wall hanging behind with Italianate tiling and balcony giving onto a river scene which is very clear in this photograph . The drape is on the viewer's left, whereas in others, the drape is on the right in front of the wall hanging. This sitter ponders the experience by directing her frontal gaze slightly to the left of the camera, her lips pressed together and cheeks puffed out as though holding her breath.

Studio portrait by Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1870-75, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart
Scans courtesy © The Private Collection of Marcel Safier 2005 ARR.
NOTES Courtesy of owner Marcel Safier:
"Subject not known. It came in an album I bought from a Tasmanian dealer at a Sydney collector's fair in 2001. The pencil numbering on the rear is my own cataloguing system. The mount is 64mm x 102mm ... It very closely resembles the mounts used by Bock previously."

Colour means social status



Full length and highly-coloured cdv on plain mount: A mature woman [unidentified but possibly Emily Giblin nee Perkins, wife of Thomas Nevin's family solicitor, the Hon. W.R. Giblin, Attorney-General] wearing a white floral head covering with ribbons, a plain dress with white bow and white cuffs, seated with sewing on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material at his table with the griffin-shaped legs on which stands a portable pin cushion, books, and vase with flowers, all highly colored including the carpet and drape. Only the backdrop of a patterned patio looking out from an Italianate terrace to a vista of a meandering river has escaped the colouring. This carte-de-visite ca. 1872 taken by T.Nevin late A.Bock, 140 Elizabeth St., Hobart Town may have been coloured by the purchaser, whether the client, or the client's descendants. Similar inept or heavy-handed colouring is evident on a private collection of Nevin's studios portraits originating from a family in northern Tasmania, and another held at the QVMAG, Launceston. This item is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania, Hobart, included in a box with Thomas Nevin's carte-de-visite of W. R. Giblin.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870 -1875
Verso with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
TAHO Ref: PH31/439 [not digitised]
Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2012 ARR



Verso: Full length and highly-coloured cdv on plain mount : A mature woman [unidentified but possibly Emily Giblin nee Perkins, wife of Thomas Nevin's family solicitor, the Hon. W.R. Giblin, Attorney-General] wearing a white floral head covering with ribbons, a plain dress with white bow and white cuffs, seated with sewing on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material at his table with the griffin-shaped legs on which stands a portable pin cushion, books, and vase with flowers, all highly colored including the carpet and drape. Only the backdrop of a patterned patio looking out from an Italianate terrace to a vista of a meandering river has escaped the colouring. This carte-de-visite ca. 1872 taken by T.Nevin late A.Bock, 140 Elizabeth St., Hobart Town may have been coloured by the purchaser, whether the client, or the client's descendants. Similar inept or heavy-handed colouring is evident on a private collection of Nevin's studios portraits originating from a family in northern Tasmania and another held at the QVMAG, Launceston. This item is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania, Hobart, included in a box with Thomas Nevin's carte-de-visite of W. R. Giblin.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870 -1875
Verso with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
TAHO Ref: PH31/439 [not digitised]
Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2012 ARR

Widowhood



Full length cdv on plain mount:  An older  woman [unidentified] seated on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material, her left elbow resting on the studio table with the griffin-shaped legs where a book and a dark vase holding delicately tinted flowers in pink and yellow have been arranged. The drape is to the viewer's left in this photograph. This woman wore a very long dark plain dress showing a fold near the hem, with braiding around the drop shoulders and a brooch on a ribbon at her throat, her hair plainly arranged at the nape. Perhaps she was newly widowed. Her eyes are sunken and her forlorn gaze averted, directed towards the foot of the camera stand rather than at the lens.



Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870 -1875
Verso with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Scans courtesy of © The Private Collection of C. G. Harrisson 2006. ARR.



Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount : An older woman [unidentified] seated on Nevin's low chair covered with shiny material, her left elbow resting on the studio table with the griffin-shaped legs where a book and a dark vase holding delicately tinted flowers in pink and yellow have been arranged. The drape is to the viewer's left in this photograph. This woman wore a very long dark plain dress showing a fold near the hem, with braiding around the drop shoulders and a brooch on a ribbon at her throat, her hair plainly arranged at the nape. Perhaps she was newly widowed. Her eyes are sunken and her forlorn gaze averted, directed towards the foot of the camera stand rather than at the lens.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870 -1875
Verso with studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Scans courtesy of © The Private Collection of C. G. Harrisson 2006. ARR.

Earrings



Full length cdv on plain mount: An older woman [unidentified], possibly of East Asian origin, with small earrings and a black ribbon tied at the neck, her dress buttoned at the bodice and trimmed at the bust line, neck, shoulders and cuffs with thick white lace. She was photographed sitting on a high stool in semi-profile, eyes turned to the viewer's left, hands folded, with the drape on the viewer's right, in an otherwise bare studio. No table, no flowers, no back sheet, no low chair, only something flat and folded on the floor at left where the edge of the plain back sheet is visible.

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870-3
Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford's orthography: "Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town". The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin's friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.
S. CLIFFORD

The original print by Nevin may have been pasted into an oval mount, which would have reduced the image and made any studio decor unnecessary at the time of capture, but when Clifford made a copy for this client from Nevin's negative, he may have been unaware of the original mount. Several extant prints inscribed verso with "Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town" which were reproduced from Nevin's negatives show a similar lack of studio furniture.

Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 10 November 2014
TMAG Ref: Q1984.295



Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount: An older woman [unidentified], possibly of East Asian origin, with small earrings and a black ribbon tied at the neck, her dress buttoned at the bodice and trimmed at the bust line, neck, shoulders and cuffs with thick white lace. She was photographed sitting on a high stool in semi-profile, eyes turned to the viewer's left, hands folded, with the drape on the viewer's right, in an otherwise bare studio. No table, no flowers, no back sheet, no low chair, only something flat and folded on the floor at left where the edge of the plain back sheet is visible. 

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870-3
Verso with the handwritten inscription in Samuel Clifford's orthography: "Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town". The original was taken by Thomas Nevin before 1876, and reprinted by Samuel Clifford until 1878, per this advertisement in The Mercury, 17th January 1876:

Mr T. J. Nevin's friends may depend that I will endeavour to satisfy them with any prints they may require from his negatives.
S. CLIFFORD

The original print by Nevin may have been pasted into an oval mount, which would have reduced the image and made any studio decor unnecessary at the time of capture, but when Clifford made a copy for this client from Nevin's negative, he may have been unaware of the original mount. Several extant prints inscribed verso with "Clifford & Nevin Hobart Town" which were reproduced from Nevin's negatives show a similar lack of studio furniture.

Photos recto and verso copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014-2015
Taken at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 10 November 2014
TMAG Ref: Q1984.295

Floral head band



Oval frame, head and torso to below waist cdv on plain mount: An older woman [unidentified] wearing a floral head band, a light-coloured dress, or perhaps a skirt and matching jacket trimmed in dark braid with large buttons and wide sleeves dropped from the shoulder, a white bow at her neck and a thin long chain reaching below her waist. Her gaze is serious, calm, and directed 25 degrees or so off centre towards the viewer's right.

Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria
[Studio portrait of a woman, half-length, to left] T. Nevin.
Accession number(s):
H2005.34/2003
H2005.34/2003A



STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
[Studio portrait of a woman, half-length, to left] T. Nevin.
Digital image(s):
Creator: Nevin, Thomas J., photographer.
Title:[Studio portrait of a woman, half-length, to left] [picture] / T. Nevin.
Access/Copyright: Reproduction rights: State Library of Victoria
Accession number(s):
H2005.34/2003
H2005.34/2003A
Date(s) of creation: [ca. 1867-ca. 1875]
Medium: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen silver ;
Dimensions: 11 x 7 cm.
Collection: John Etkins collection.
Notes: Title assigned by cataloguer.
Not dated but Nevin worked at 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town, between 1867-1875.
Ref.: Australians behind the camera, directory of early Australian photographers, 1841-1945 / Sandy Barrie, 2002.
Photographer printed on verso: City Photographic Establishment / T. Nevin / late / A. Bock / 140 / Elizabeth St. / Hobart Town.
Source/Donor: Gift of Mr John Etkins; 2005.



Full length cdv on plain mount: An older couple [unidentified], the woman seated with a King Charles spaniel sitting on her dress at her feet, the man standing with his right arm extended behind her. The woman wore a black floral head band with ribbons to her shoulders, a large brooch with intricate design at the neck, a thin chain to the waist, and a large dress ring with stone on her left hand. The light on her dress suggests it was made of silk, the buttons possibly made of pearl from waist to neck, with more rows of tiny round pearls, white and dark, trimming the bodice, dropped shoulders, and cuffs. While the man gazes 25 degrees away from the camera, the woman's gaze, directed towards it, conveys complete ease with herself and the situation, despite the bare studio and makeshift backdrop behind her which contrasts markedly with her elaborate dress. Perhaps to compensate for the lack of objects to highlight and compliment the social status of this couple, someone has gone to the trouble of colouring the bodice trim of her dress in Empire green, and daubed the carpet with the same green plus light brown. The colouring is not the work of Nevin or his studio assistants, whose hand tinting was fine and delicate. This carte-de-visite may have been coloured by the purchaser, whether the client, or the client's descendants. Similar inept or heavy-handed colouring is evident on a private collection of Nevin's studios portraits originating from a family in northern Tasmania, and on others held in public collections (QVMAG, Launceston; State Library of Tasmania, Hobart.)

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870-1875
Verso with black studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint KLW NFC Private Collection 2013 ARR.



Verso: Full length cdv on plain mount : An older couple [unidentified], the woman seated with a King Charles spaniel sitting on her dress at her feet, the man standing with his right arm extended behind her. The woman wore a black floral head band with ribbons to her shoulders, a large brooch with intricate design at the neck, a thin chain to the waist, and a large dress ring with stone on her left hand. The light on her dress suggests it was made of silk, the buttons possibly made of pearl from waist to neck, with more rows of tiny round pearls, white and dark, trimming the bodice, dropped shoulders, and cuffs. While the man gazes 25 degrees away from the camera, the woman's gaze, directed towards it, conveys complete ease with herself and the situation, despite the bare studio and makeshift backdrop behind her which contrasts markedly with her elaborate dress. Perhaps to compensate for the lack of objects to highlight and compliment the social status of this couple, someone has gone to the trouble of colouring the bodice trim of her dress in Empire green, and daubed the carpet with the same green plus light brown. The colouring is not the work of Nevin or his studio assistants, whose hand tinting was fine and delicate. This carte-de-visite may have been coloured by the purchaser, whether the client, or the client's descendants. Similar inept or heavy-handed colouring is evident on a private collection of Nevin's studios portraits originating from a family in northern Tasmania, and on others held in public collections (QVMAG, Launceston; State Library of Tasmania, Hobart.) 

Studio portrait by Thomas Nevin ca, 1870-1875
Verso with black studio stamp: "Ad Altiora" above Kangaroo emblem, T. Nevin late A. Bock encircled by belt printed with "City Photographic Establishment" and address below, "140 Elizabeth St. Hobart Town". In italics below: "Further Copies can be obtained at any time".
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint KLW NFC Private Collection 2013 ARR.

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• Male and female clerics and Nevin's table 1870s
• Nevin's women clients and their dresses 1870s
• A highly coloured portrait
• Two couples, two dogs by A. Bock and T. Nevin 
• Three of Nevin’s studio stamps

Marcus Clarke and Thomas Nevin at the Old Bell Hotel 1870

MARCUS CLARKE in Hobart, Tasmania 1874
THE OLD BELL HOTEL Elizabeth St. Hobart
THOMAS NEVIN's STUDIO 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart



State Library of Victoria
Title: Portrait photograph of Marcus Clarke in riding gear [picture].
Date(s): ca. 1866 [unattributed]
Description: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen silver ; 10.3 x 6.3 cm.
Identifier(s): Accession no(s) H2011.89

Marcus Clarke at the Old Bell Hotel
In January 1920, the Old Bell Hotel in Elizabeth St. Hobart closed its doors for the last time. This notice repeated the story that Marcus Clarke had written parts of his famous novel For The Term of His Natural Life (1874) while imbibing in the parlour.



TRANSCRIPT

HOBART HOTELS CLOSED
HAUNT OF MARCUS CLARKE
Eight hotels delicensed recently by the Hobart Licensing Court closed their doors last night. One is the Old Bell, where Marcus Clarke is supposed to have written a portion of his famous novel, "For the Term of His Natural Life."

Source: HOBART HOTELS CLOSED. (1920, January 2). Daily Herald (Adelaide, SA : 1910 - 1924), p. 4. Retrieved September 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106495811.

By November 1921, plans were in place to demolish the hotel and in its place erect a two storey building renamed Old Bell Chambers housing a suite of shops and offices and a motor garage at rear, according to this report:

TRANSCRIPT

THE "OLD BELL" INN.
The demolition of another of the oldest public-houses in Hobart, known as the Old Bell Inn from the very early days of Hobart Town (as the city used to be called until comparatively recent years) is in progress, to make wav for new business premises, which will be styled "Old Bell Chambers". The most historic, and probably most interesting, reminiscence associated with the old building is the fact that Marcus Clarke is believed to have written his famous story, "For the Term of His Natural Life," in the main parlour of the inn. Though doubt is often cast on the possibility of this being actually true, owing to the author's reputedly short sojourn in Australia, it is more than probable that the original notes on which his narrative was framed at leisure were penned in the inn parlour on his return from a visit to the penal settlement at Eaglehawk Neck and Port Arthur. The site has a frontage on Elizabeth Street of 50 feet, widening to 70 feet at a depth of about 150 feet. The ground floor of the front portion will be occupied by shops, with suites of offices on the first floor, approached  by a stair-way leading direct from Elizabeth-street, and isolated from the shops by means of a reinforced concrete wall. The rear portion of the site will be occupied by a spacious motor garage, accessible by a right-of-way from Elizabeth-street The tender of Mr. A P McElwee has been accepted for the erection of the building, which will be carried out from the design prepared bv the architect, Mr R W Koch, who will supervise the construction.

Source: THE "OLD BELL" INN. (1921, November 4). The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved October 23, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23473314

As it seems that Thomas Nevin was partial to a drink, inebriation being the chief reason he was dismissed by the Police Committee from his position of Town Hall keeper in December 1880, the Old Bell Hotel would have been one of his preferred watering holes. The closest, however, was The Royal Standard Hotel located right next door to his studio, situated at 142 Elizabeth St on the corner of Patrick St, owned and operated by James Spence from 1862 to 1874.

Thomas Nevin was still alive in 1920 (d. 1923) when the hotel, known as the Old Bell, was delicensed, so he may have contributed to this story that Marcus Clarke drank there while writing his famous novel, published in installments from 1870 after a visit to the derelict prison at Port Arthur on the Tasman Peninsula. Marcus Clarke was a heavy drinker, a sufferer of dyspepsia and a disordered liver, dying at just 35 years old (1846-1881), whereas Thomas Nevin (1842-1923) was a Wesleyan who not only proved immune to the illnesses which beset his other family members on the voyage out on the Fairlie (1852), he lived to the distinguished age of 81 yrs, his beard still red and his eyes still clear. according to his grand children Eva and Hilda - children of his youngest son Albert and wife Emily Nevin - who were five and three yr olds, born 1917 and 1919 respectively, and who were still alive when this weblog went online in 2003.

Views of the Old Bell Hotel
The Old Bell Hotel (or Inn) was located at 132 Elizabeth Street, in one photograph, a streetscape ca. 1890, and at 146 Elizabeth St. in another photograph of the facade. In either case, it was just three doors from Thomas Nevin's studio, The City Photographic Establishment, his glass house and residence at 138-140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart, and on the same side of the street. Thomas Nevin acquired the business and premises from Alfred Bock in 1865, operating in the name of Nevin & Smith until 1868 with Robert Smith's departure for NSW and continued as a commercial photographer at the same premises until late 1875 when he was appointed to the civil service at the Hobart Town Hall with residency.

NEVIN's STEREOGRAPHS late 1860s
When Thomas Nevin took these two stereographs of his studio and shop front at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart, shown at extreme right of the frame, the Old Bell Hotel would have been located at 132 Elizabeth St, just at the crest as the street dipped towards the River Derwent and visible at the distant perspectival centre in each frame. According to Alfred Bock's advertisement for an apprentice in 1863, the address of the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth St. was "Three doors from Patrick-street, Hobart Town ..." .



Source: The Mercury, 7 July 1863.
The City Photographic Establishment at 140 Elizabeth St "Three doors from Patrick-street"
Alfred Bock’s new gallery was actually a glass house.



A view of Thomas Nevin's studio and shop, extreme right of frame, 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart
Stereograph by T. J. Nevin ca. 1867-70 of the City Photographic Establishment
The dark building next door at 138 Elizabeth St, Nevin's residence, was leased from A. E. Biggs
T. Nevin impress on lower centre of mount.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection TMAG Ref: Q1994.56.12



Another view of Thomas Nevin's studio and shop, extreme right of frame, at 140 Elizabeth St. Hobart
The dark building next door at 138 Elizabeth St, Nevin's residence, was leased from A. E. Biggs
Stereograph by T. J. Nevin ca. 1867-1870 of the City Photographic Establishment, three doors from Patrick St,
TMAG Ref: Q1994-56-33 Verso blank

1890s-1920
This photograph (below, right click for large view) distinctly shows The Old Bell Hotel on the right hand side of Elizabeth St. if one is looking towards the wharves, with the address as No.132 Elizabeth St.



Title: Photograph - Elizabeth Street looking south (Brisbane Street) - Bridges Bros and The Bell Hotel at number 132
Description: 1 photographic print
Format: Photograph
ADRI: NS1013-1-820
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

But this photograph shows the Old Bell at 146 Elizabeth St, Hobart:



Source: TAHO Ref:PH40-1-93c



Title: Photograph - "Old Bell Hotel", Hobart - interior of bar [n.d.]
Description: 1 photographic print
Format: Photograph
ADRI: PH40-1-94
Source: Archives Office of Tasmania

When the photograph (below, top left) was taken of three boys standing outside the Old Bell Hotel, the authors of this article published in the Mercury Supplement series Cheers! on Hobart's hotels in 2005 stated that the hotel's address by then was 146 to 150 Elizabeth St. Hobart.



The Old Bell Hotel at what is now 146-150 Elizabeth t. Hobart
J. V. Peck licensee; the property at Nos 136-140 in his wife's name Catherine Peck by 1886
Source: Mercury Supplement Cheers, Friday August 26, 2005
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2019 Private Collection

Marcus Clarke's sources
If the story about the Old Bell is factual, propinquity alone would have brought Thomas Nevin and Marcus Clarke together, and to their mutual satisfaction, given the journalistic background of John Nevin snr, Thomas' father, and Thomas Nevin's involvement with photographing the prisoner and ex-prisoner population. The Nevins would have given Marcus Clarke a ready source of information regarding police and prisoners at the Hobart Gaol one street away from the Old Bell Hotel. Thomas Nevin may have introduced Marcus Clarke to William Robert Giblin, Thomas Nevin's family solicitor, who was the Attorney-General and later, Premier, and he may have also introduced Marcus Clarke to Maria Nairn, the widow of William Edward Nairn, sheriff of Hobart from 1857 until his death in 1868. Maria Nairn had leased an acre of land to John Nevin, next to the Franklin Museum at Kangaroo Valley, not far from Clarke's lodgings. These prototypes served Marcus Clarke's fiction, along with the officials "of position" who allowed him to view prison records at Hobart, Town on his 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 LAST HOPE.Book III, Chapter XIII (page 290)
Image taken from Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life
WL Crowther Library,
State Library of Tasmania
Source: Colonialism and its Aftermath

The Preface
Marcus Clarke's Preface to His Natural Life,
First Published: 1870. Source: http://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/p00023.pdf

PREFACE
The convict of fiction has been hitherto shown only at the beginning or at the end of his career. Either his exile has been the mysterious end to his misdeeds, or he has appeared upon the scene to claim interest by reason of an equally unintelligible love of crime acquired during his experience in a penal settlement.
Charles Reade has drawn the interior of a house of correction in England, and Victor Hugo has shown how a French convict fares after the fulfilment of his sentence. But no writer — so far as I am aware — has attempted to depict the dismal condition of a felon during his term of transportation.
I have endeavoured in “His Natural Life” to set forth the working and results of an English system of transportation carefully considered and carried out under official supervision; and to illustrate in the manner best calculated, as I think, to attract general attention, the inexpediency of again allowing offenders against the law to be herded together in places remote from the wholesome influence of public opinion, and to be submitted to a discipline which must necessarily depend for its just administration upon the personal character and temper of their gaolers.
Some of the events narrated are doubtless tragic and terrible; but I hold it needful to my purpose to record them, for they are events which have actually occurred, and which, if the blunders which produce them be repeated, must infallibly occur again. It is true that the British Government have ceased to deport the criminals of England, but the method of punishment, of which that deportation was a part, is still in existence. Port Blair is a Port Arthur filled with Indian-men instead of Englishmen; and, within the last year, France has established, at New Caledonia, a penal settlement which will, in the natural course of things, repeat in its annals the history of Macquarie Harbour and of Norfolk Island.
M.C.
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Watch The Movie (1929)
Watch the full version here at YouTube -

Captain Edward Goldsmith and the land at Lake St Clair 1841

CAPTAIN EDWARD GOLDSMITH conveyancing
LAKE ST CLAIR Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

"This part of the country unknown" north of the Great Lake was printed on the Surveyor-General's map of Van Diemen's Land in 1824. Of course that part of the country - as every other part - was known to the Aboriginal inhabitants of Tasmania since their arrival sixty thousand years ago right up to the period before colonisation at the beginning of the 19th century. The decimation of their numbers within a few decades of the British establishing the colony they called Van Diemen's Land (1804) is widely regarded as genocide (Robert Hughes, James Boyce, Lyndall Ryan etc)





Tasmanian Heritage and Archive Office
Title: Chart of Van Diemen's Land from the best authorities and from actual surveys and measurements / by Thomas Scott Assistant Surveyor General ; engraved by Charles Thompson (Cross) Edinburgh
Creator: Scott, Thomas, 1800-1855
Map data: Scale [ca. 1: 545,000]
Publisher: [London : s.n.], 1824
Description: 1 map : col. ; 83.5 x 59 cm
Format: Map
Notes: "from the original survey brought by Captain Dixon of the ship Skelton of Whitby 1824"
Map of Tasmania with land grant, distances from Hobart, comment on topography and settlement. Relief shown by hachures and bathymetric soundings
Table of references with grants and owners

By 1840, master mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith had acquired 100 acres from Thomas Drew in this area of Van Diemen's Land, now known as the Lincoln Land District of Tasmania. He was well aware of the success of The Van Diemen's Land Company (also known as Van Dieman Land Company) in the north-west, and envisaged a similar operation in the Falkland Islands. The Van Diemen's Land Company was founded in 1825; it received a royal charter and a grant of 250,000 acres (1,000 km2) in 1826. The company was a group of London wool merchants with plans to supply the British textile industry. Captain Edward Goldsmith was aware of disputes with the VDL Company's white servants over Aboriginal women which had escalated into the Cape Grim Massacre of 1828. The Falklands did not present such problems. In a letter to the Sydney Gazette, July 1839, he wrote: -

I am satisfied that the Falklands, from their position and internal resources, and being free from natives, will, under a company, thrive much faster than Van Dieman's Land. Sheep will do well, and may be easily imported from New South Wales.

Source: The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) Saturday 27 July 1839 p 2 Article ADVANCE AUSTRALIA SYDNEY GAZETTE.

Coincidentally, there is a road called the Gad's Hill Road which runs through the Mersey Forest (7304), due east of Lake St. Clair, which Captain Goldsmith may have named after his estate, Gad's Hill, at Higham, Kent. He may have visited the region before conveying it to George Bilton in February 1841. Bilton's co-partnership with Edward Goldsmith, Andrew Haig and William Williamson in The Derwent Ship Building Company was dissolved a few weeks later, in March 1841.

Lincoln Land District is one of the twenty land districts of Tasmania which are part of the cadastral divisions of Tasmania. It was formerly one of the 18 counties of Tasmania. Its south-eastern tip is surrounded by the River Derwent on one side, and the Nive River on the other. It is bounded to the north by the Pieman River. It includes Cradle Mountain, the Overland Track, Lake St Clair and most of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

Source; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Land_District



TRANSCRIPT

George Bilton, 100a., Lincoln, originally Thomas Drew, who conveyed to Edward Goldsmith, who conveyed to the applicant; claim dated 20th January, 1841.-Bounded on the east by 40 chains southerly along Lot .'350 located to Thomas Burnett, on the south by 25 chains westerly along Lot 358, on the west by 40 chains northerly along Lot 359, and on the north by 25 chains easterly also along Lot 359 to the point of commence-ment.

Source:Classified Advertising. (1841, February 12). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), p. 1. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2957066



Memorial to Lieutenant Thomas Burnett
St David’s Park, Hobart, Tasmania
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2014 ARR

The land at Lake St Clair in the county of Lincoln, VDL, conveyed by Captain Goldsmith in February 1841 to George Bilton was bounded on the south by land allocated to Lieutenant Thomas Burnett, who had drowned four years earlier, on 21 May 1837 while conducting hydrographic surveys of the D’Entrecasteaux Channel aboard the colonial cutter Vansittart. Lieutenant Burnett had accompanied the newly-appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the colony, Captain Sir John Franklin on the voyage to Hobart on board the Fairlie just months before he (Burnett) drowned, arriving on 6th January 1837. He was buried with full naval honours in St David’s cemetery, where his monument still stands. Designed by John Lee Archer, Colonial Architect, the monument stands on the stone plinth intended as the main stand for an observatory for Burnett.



Detail: Memorial to Lieutenant Thomas Burnett
St David’s Park, Hobart, Tasmania
Photo copyright © KLW NFC 2014 ARR

George Bilton acted as proxy for John James Meaburn in the dissolution of the enterprise “The Derwent Ship Building Company” dated March 3rd, 1841, witnessed by Captain Goldsmith’s neighbour in Davey St, Robert Pitcairn.



TRANSCRIPT

NOTICE.- The Copartnership hitherto carried on by the undersigned, under the style or firm of "The Derwent Ship Building Company", has been dissolved as on this date.
George Bilton
for John James Meaburn
Andrew Haig
E. Goldsmith
Wm. Williamson
Witness- Robert Pitcairn
Hobart Town, March 3. [1841]

Source: Classified Advertising. (1841, March 5). The Courier (Hobart, Tas. : 1840 - 1859), p. 3. Retrieved April 21, 2014, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2956876

The company was originally established in 1839 once the acquisition of land at Secheron Bay, Battery Point, was settled, with Captain Goldsmith's expressing his intention of establishing a patent slip there. The local press reported the venture with considerable optimism:

LAND.-The property of Mr H. W. Mortimer,sold on Wednesday last by Mr W.T. Macmichael, realized the following prices, viz.-an allotment fronting the Derwent, 115 feet,£5 5s per foot,£903 12s do do. 115 feet, £9 10s, £1092 10s; and the dwelling house and premises, £625.-Messrs Bilton & Meaburn, and Captain Goldsmith of the Wave were purchasers, and we have been informed it is their intention to lay down a patent slip, which Captain Goldsmith will bring with him next voyage.-

Source: Southern Australian (Adelaide, SA : 1838 - 1844) Wed 6 Nov 1839 Page 3 V. D. LAND EXTRACTS.

SHIP BUILDING. - A Ship Building Company, composed of Messrs. Bilton, Goldsmith, Haig, Meaburn, and Williamson, are just about to commence, on the ground lately purchased from Mr. Mortimer, where an extensive and well sheltered building yard, and patent slip, are to be erected; an enterprise very much required, and deserving of encouragement. The parties are all gentlemen of practical knowledge, a qualification very much calculated to give general satisfaction, and to ensure success, for the attainment of which they have our best wishes.

Source: Colonial Times, Tues 29 October 1839, page 7, Domestic Intelligence

Artists such as John Glover (in 1834) and Skinner Prout (in 1845) had travelled in the region and represented Lake St Clair and surrounding mountains in sketches, but it was not until the 1860s when photographs taken by Morton Allport of his party's excursion to Lake St Clair made the region a better known traveller's destination.



Glover, John. (1834). [Four Tasmanian views]
NLA Catalogue online: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-138917890



In: Excursion to Lake St. Clair February 1863 No. 12
Publisher: Hobart : M. Allport, 1863
Archives Office of Tasmania
https://stors.tas.gov.au/AUTA001126254101$init=AUTA001126254101P34

RELATED POSTS main weblog

• Captain Edward Goldsmith and the patent slip 1855
• Captain Goldsmith, three bloodstock fillies, and a larboard collision
• Captain Edward Goldsmith at Secheron Bay 1839

Paris Expo 1855: Captain Goldsmith's blue gum plank

Elizabeth Nevin's uncle, master mariner Captain Edward Goldsmith , departed Hobart Tasmania permanently in February 1856, but his entry of a blue gum plank (eucalyptus globulus) was shipped to France months prior, intended for the opening of the Paris Exposition on 15 May 1855, closing on 15 November 1855. Over five million people visited the exhibition which displayed products from 34 countries across 6 hectares (39 acres).



Exposition universelle de 1855 à Paris - Palais de l'Industrie
Restitution en 3D du Palais de l'Industrie - Film présenté lors de l'exposition au Musée des Avelines à Saint-Cloud, du 25 mars au 31 mai 2009 : "Sur les traces des Expositions universelles à Saint-Cloud".
"La France Couronnant l'Art et l'Industrie" - Groupe sculpté par Elias Robert - vestige de l'Exposition universelle de 1855 dans le Parc de Saint-Cloud.

Exposition universelle de 1855 à Paris
Opened: 15 May 1855
Closed:15 November 1855
Attendance:5,162,330
Site: 16 hectares(39 acres)
Participating ;Countries: 34



Exposition universelle de Paris en 1855
Artist/Architect: Viel, Jean-Marie-Victor, 1796-1863
Description: Lithographs: monochrome, 1 image
Format: Lithographs
Caption: This lithograph depicts the distribution of recompenses to the exhibitors at the close of the Exposition Universelle at the Palais de l'Industrie on November 15, 1855.

THE BLUE GUM PLANK



The plank was 70 feet long, 11 feet wide and 3 inches thick, according to the report in the Hobart Courier, 6 September 1855.

Although the Exposition catalogue listed his plank, the report of the Hobart Courier of September 6, 1855, suggested it never left Hobart, that is, if the plank was originally cut by the Commandant of Port Arthur, James Boyd, and Captain Goldsmith was his proxy as both shipping agent and exhibitor.




TRANSCRIPT
Hobart Courier September 6, 1855

Blue Gum of Tasmania,- Eucalyptus globulus,
plank 70 + 11 +3 inches. Captain Goldsmith.
This is perhaps the most valuable and important of the timber trees of Tasmania. Its principal habitat is in the south side of the island ; but it is also met with in the valley of the Apsley and at the Douglas River, on the East Coast, and it re-appears upon Flinder's Island, in Bass's Straits: its stronghold, however, is D'Entrecasteaux's Channel and along the south side of the island, whence it has been exported in various shapes within the last three years to the value of about £800.000.
The Blue Gum attains, when-at maturity, an average elevation and size greater probably than any other tree in the world ; a plank forwarded to the London Exhibition of 1851, which from the difficulty experienced in procuring a ship to carry it, arrived in England too late for  exposition, measured 145 feet in length, and was 20 inches broad by 6 inches in thickness. A plank of the same width and thickness was cut 60 feet in length by Mr. James Boyd, Civil Commandant at Port Arthur, Van Diemen's Land, in order to be forwarded to the Paris Exhibition of 1855, but it has been found impracticable to get it shipped by any vessel at this port, (Hobart Town), and it does not therefore appear in this catalogue.
This tree attains at its full growth a height of 250 to 350 feet, and a circumference varying from 30 to upwards of 100 feet, at four feet from the ground. In regular forest ground it rarely gives off its principal limb under 100 feet, and there is not unfrequently a stem clear of any branch for 200 foot and upwards. The most important purpose for which this timber is adapted, and to which it is extensively applied, is that of ship-building. The Messrs. Degraves and Messrs. Watson of this place have built and fitted out vessels with it of which several are now trading regularly to and from England. Its specific gravity is greater than that of  Teak, British Oak, or even Saull; and experiments instituted to ascertain its breaking weight &;c., have  established the fact, that in strength and elasticity it is superior to all other timbers. For planking and stringers, and for keels of ships, the blue gum possesses a suitability beyond all other timbers, since it affords length and dimensions which it would be impossible to obtain from any other tree.
The purposes to which the wood of the blue gum is applied are as numerous as the varieties of work which devolve on the shipwright, millwright, house carpenter, implement-maker, and engineer, for in all these departments of mechanical labour and skill it is found to be a material all but indispensable, notwithstanding the great diversity of woods available in the Colony. For instance, it is in constant use for tree-nails in ship-building, - as gunwales for boats,- for house-building. for fitting up steam engines and the heaviest machinery,- in the construction of wheels, wheelbarrows, carts. &c, and for piles on which to raise wharves ; bridges of great span are built of it, -that at Bridgewater, about II miles from Hobart Town, of which a model was sent to the London Exhibition. and which is raised upon piles measuring 65 to 90 feet each in length, stands 9 feet above the highest high watermark, and measures 96 feet from end to end, by a breadth affording a roadway of 24 feet, is constructed entirely of this timber. This tree, like most of the Eucalypti, yields a red, highly astringent gum, which has been extensively used,and found to answer, as a "kino," and the leaves by distillation yield an essential oil, having the properties of "Cajeput oil.

Stereo of the blue gum bridge at Bridgewater
Attributed to Morton Allport 1860s
TAHO Ref: 17AUTAS001126184597

... bridges of great span are built of it, -that at Bridgewater, about II miles from Hobart Town, of which a model was sent to the London Exhibition. and which is raised upon piles measuring 65 to 90 feet each in length, stands 9 feet above the highest high watermark, and measures 96 feet from end to end, by a breadth affording a roadway of 24 feet, is constructed entirely of this timber....

The Tasmanian Executive won two awards at the Paris Expo 1855:

EXHIBITION AWARDS
RS.157/
1,2 Paris Exhibition 1855
RS.157  I
Certificate of award of 2nd class medal to Tasmanian Executive
for (1) wood turned objects and furniture and (2) wood carvings,
signed by Napoleon Bonaparte
(80 cm. x eQ cm.) (Royal Society of Tasmania, UTas ePrints)





State Library of Tasmania
Blue gum camp and coupe ca. 1870
ADRI: AUTAS001126185776; AUTAS001126185636
Source: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts

The Harriet McGregor, 332 tons, was built at the Domain shipyard by Alexander McGregor in 1871, and named after his wife, the former Harriet Bayley. It was the most renowned of the blue-gum clippers that made 24 voyages from Hobart to London and back as well as trading on intercolonial and Mauritian routes until sold in 1895 to Danish owners, renamed Water Queen, and destroyed soon after by fire at Rio.



Title: HARRIET MCGREGOR [picture]
Author/Creator: Allan C. Green 1878-1954
Date(s): [ca. 1900-ca. 1954]
Description: 2 negatives : glass ; each 12.1 x 16.6 cm. (half plate)
Identifier(s): Accession no(s) H91.250/130; H91.250/131
Subjects: Harriet McGregor (Ship) ; Barks (Sailing ships)
Notes: Copy of earlier negative.
Link to digitised item: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/27991

Another use for the Tasmanian blue gum was the manufacture of soap from the fresh green leaves. This advertisement ca. 1900 by New York soap company HYOMEI stressed the benefits to both mother and child.

"Securing a proper likeness": Tasmania, NSW and Victoria from 1871

Extant examples of Thomas J. Nevin's photographs taken in the 1870s of Tasmanian prisoners - or "convicts" which is the archaic term used in Tasmanian tourism discourse up to the present - number more than 300 in Australian public collections. These two different photographs of prisoner George Leathley are typical of his application of commercial studio portraiture. They were taken by Thomas J. Nevin between Leathley's conviction for murder in 1866 and Leathley's discharge with a ticket of leave in 1876.



Prisoner George Leathley No. 89
Photographer; T. J. Nevin
Carte-de-visite originally held at the QVMAG
Now held at the TMAG,  Ref: Q15588



Prisoner George Leathley
Thomas Nevin's original print from his glass negative
Reprinted by John Watt Beattie on a panel for sale, 1916
Held at the QVMAG Ref: 1983_p_0163-0176



Prisoner George Leathley No's. 14 and 226
National Library of Australia collection
Title: George Leathley, per ship Blundell, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Creator: T. J. Nevin
Date: 1874.
Extent: 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm., on mount 10.4 x 6.4 cm.
Context: Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Series: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Title from inscription on reverse.
Inscription: “nos. 14 & 226”–On reverse.

Professional photographer Thomas J. Nevin was commissioned by his family solicitor, the Hon. Attorney-General W.R. Giblin, to photograph prisoners for the Colonial Government of Tasmania as early as 1871, the year the government of NSW authorised the Inspector of Prisons, Harold McLean, to commence the photographing of all prisoners convicted in the NSW Superior Courts.

New South Wales
The colony of New South Wales had already introduced the practice of photographing prisoners twice, firstly on entry to prison and secondly near the end of their term of incarceration by January 1872 when this report was published in the Sydney Morning Herald. The purpose of the visit to the Port Arthur prison by the former Premier and Solicitor-general from the colony of Victoria with photographer, Thomas Nevin and the Tasmanian Attorney-General the Hon. W. R. Giblin on 1st February 1872 in the company of visiting British author Anthony Trollope, was to establish a similar system for processing prisoners through the central Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall on their relocation from the dilapidated and dysfunctional Port Arthur prison to the Hobart Gaol in Campbell St. The few remaining prisoners at Port Arthur were returned to Hobart from mid-1873 to early 1874. Some were photographed by Nevin at Port Arthur, but the majority were photographed by Nevin on arrival in Hobart.


Photography and Prisons
The Sydney Morning Herald 10 January 1872

TRANSCRIPT

PHOTOGRAPHY AND PRISONS.-We understand that, at the instance of Inspector-General McLerie, Mr. Harold McLean, the Sheriff, has recently introduced into Darlinghurst gaol the English practice of photographing all criminals in that establishment whose antecedents or whose prospective power of doing mischief make them, in the judgment of the police authorities, eligible for that distinction. It is an honour, however, which has to be " thrust " upon some men, for they shrink before the lens of the photographer more than they would quail before the eye of a living detective. The reluctance of such worthies in many cases can only be conquered by the deprivation of the ordinary gaol indulgencies; and even then they submit with so bad a grace that their acquiescence is feigned rather than real. The facial contortions to which the more knowing ones resort are said to be truly ingenious. One scoundrel will assume a smug and sanctimonious aspect, while another will chastise his features into an expression of injured innocence or blank stupidity which would almost defy recognition. They are pursued, however, through all disguises, and when a satisfactory portrait is obtained copies are transferred to the black books of the Inspector-General. The prisoners are first " taken" in their own clothes on entering the gaol, and the second portrait is produced near the expiration of their sentence. When mounted in the police album, the cartes-de-visite, if we may so style them, are placed between two columns, one containing a personal description of the offender, and the other a record of his criminal history. Briefer or more comprehensive biographies have probably never been framed. Copies of these photographs are sent to the superintendents of police in the country districts, and also to the adjoining colonies. To a certain extent photography has proved in England an effective check upon crime, and it is obviously calculated to render most valuable aid in the detection of notorious criminals. New South Wales is, we understand, the only Australian colony which has yet adopted this system ; but the practice is likely soon to become general.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald. (1872, January 10). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 4. Retrieved from https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13250452

Following the NSW government example, Thomas Nevin photographed men convicted in the Hobart Supreme Court who were housed in the adjoining Hobart Gaol. Those men who were convicted in regional courts with sentences longer than three months were transferred to Hobart. He took at least two original photographs of the prisoner, on different occasions: the first, the booking shot, was taken on entry into the prison, sometimes when the prisoner was unshaved and in ordinary or street clothing as soon as convicted; the second was taken fourteen days prior to the prisoner's discharge. Additional prisoner photographs were taken by T. J. Nevin at the Port Arthur penitentiary between 1872 and 1874, and at the Cascades Prison for Males with the assistance of his younger brother Constable John Nevin in the unusual circumstance of the transfer of 103 prisoners from the Port Arthur prison to the Hobart Gaol at the request of the Parliament in 1873. Up to six duplicates were produced from each negative.



Above: One of earliest tenders taken up by Nevin at the Office of the Superintendent of Police
for provision of police and gaol registers photographs, The Mercury 23 December 1872.

The photographs (there are 300+ extant of Tasmanian "convicts") were printed first on paper and mounted in oval frames as cartes-de-visite, both as loose duplicates and as cdvs pasted in the Hobart Gaol Photo Books containing summaries of the prisoner's criminal record.The loose duplicates were made for circulation to local and intercolonial authorities. Forty (40) or so unmounted prints from Nevin's original glass negatives survive from his government contract in the 1870s, and are held at the QVMAG. These forty sepia prints were collated on three panels in 1916 by John Watt Beattie and offered for sale from his museum and shop in Hobart. The majority, however, survive as cartes-de-visite in oval mounts, typical of Nevin's commercial studio portraiture in the decade 1870-1880 (examples are held at the NLA, QVMAG, TMAG, SLNSW Mitchell Library, PCHS and in private collections). The cdv's were formatted to fit onto the prisoner's record sheet, a blue form, held at the Hobart Gaol. The original negatives were held at the Mayor's Court and the Office of Inspector of Police at the Hobart Town Hall where Thomas Nevin held the government contract which became a full-time position with residency in late 1875.

Darlinghurst Gaol (NSW) 1871
This selection (below) of mugshots was made from searching the NSW State Records Office Prisoners Photos Index to the photographic books for the earliest date recorded for a mugshot. It appears to have been September 1871 at the Darlinghurst Gaol, Sydney, although the months of April and May 1871 appear in the search totalling approx. 165 prisoners in the index for 1871. These are among the earliest, all taken with the male prisoner seated in an office chair, in no particular pose apart from directing his gaze slightly to the viewer's left of frame, and with hands folded in his lap.





William McGrath, sentenced to two years for receiving stolen cattle.
Photographed on 16th September, 1871



RAP SHEET NOTES for James Peake
James Peake alias Pake alias Moocher
PEAKE James 1806 Staffordshire Darlinghurst 16/09/1871 44 43 NRS2138 [11/17378] 5133 Alias: PAKE, James Alias: MOOCHER, James 2138_a006_a00611_1737800043r
Record No. 44
Date when portrait was taken 16th September 1871
Tried at Bathurst QS 6th September 1871. Offence was stealing in a dwelling, sentenced to 2 years hard labour, It was his 3rd conviction, served a sentence on Cockatoo [Island], supposed to be a Vandemonian
Born 1806, Staffordshire, arrived on the Red Jacket in 1856, C of E, no education, 5 feet 4 half inches. weight 124 lbs, brown and grey hair, grey eyes, scar on under lip, a woman and three fishes on right forearm



NB: Dictionary meaning of "moocher" at www.dictionary.com/browse/moocher

Sense of "sponge off others" first recorded 1857. Whatever the distant origin of mooch, the verb *mycan and its cognates have been part of European slang for at least two millennia. [ Liberman] Related: Mooched; mooching. As a noun meaning "a moocher," from 1914.

William Richards was sentenced to 2 years for horse stealing. He was discharged from Darlinghurst Gaol on 10th September 1871.



Joseph McGrath #1 and Jospeh McGrath alias Lee #2: stealing from the person, discharged from Darlinghurst Gaol on 4th October, 1871.

Source: Photographic Description Books [Darlinghurst Gaol] NRS 2138

Margaret Greenwood, NSW 1875



Margaret Greenwood, 1875, photographed at the Darlinghurst Gaol NSW
NSW State Records Archives



Booking photo, cdv in oval mount, of George Miller 1881, 
Gaol Photograph of George Miller [NRS 2138 Vol. 3/6044 Photo No. 2688 p. 219]
Unattributed photo:State Archives NSW


NSW State Records Archives Investigator - Series Detail
Series number: 2138
Title: Photographic Description Books [Darlinghurst Gaol]
Start date: by 12 Aug 1871
End date: by 13 Jul 1914
Contents start date:  12 Aug 1871
Contents end date:  13 Jul 1914
Descriptive note:

Authorisation
The taking of prisoner 'portraits' was formally authorised to be carried out at Darlinghurst Gaol by a memo from Harold Maclean (Inspector of Prisons) to the Principal Gaoler on 5 August 1871 (1). This document noted:

Authority to introduce Photography
Portraits will be taken of all prisoners convicted at the Superior Courts, except those convicted of trifling misdemeanours and who do not belong to the Criminal Class.

Portraits will also be taken of prisoners summarily convicted where the Police require it, or the Principal Gaoler thinks it desirable to secure a perfect description.

These portraits will be photographed after conviction and fourteen (or more) days prior to discharge, in private clothing where practicable.

Any prisoner refusing or by his or her behaviour putting obstacles in the way of securing a proper likeness will be brought before the Visiting Justice for disobedience and the case reported to the Inspector of Prisons with a view to the stoppage of remission indulgences and gratuities. .

The figures are to be taken ¾ size unless in exceptional cases where there may be reason for taking them in full. The negatives will be numbered to correspond with the Photographic Register, and carefully packed away under lock and key.

Twenty five copies of each portrait are to be printed and furnished to the Inspector General of Police through this Office.

Harold Maclean
Inspector of Prisons
BC 5:8:71

The Principal Gaoler
A slightly earlier general order from the Acting Inspector of Prisons on 27 July 1871 (2) dealt with some of the practical aspects of implementing photography of prisoners:

Prisoners to be photographed
Prisoners convicted at the Superior Courts and being forwarded to serve their Sentences in Darlinghurst Gaol, or to Darlinghurst Gaol en route to Berrima or other prisons, will not be shaved and their private clothing will be sent with them in order that they might be photographed as nearly as practicable in their ordinary appearance.
Harold Maclean
Actg Inspr of Prisons
The Gaolers
Parramatta
Mudgee
Windsor

The photographing of prisoners appears to have been confined to Darlinghurst Gaol (the principal prison in the Colony) until the mid-1870s, after which it began to be introduced at the major country gaols. On 15 February 1877, a general order was sent to Berrima and Goulburn Gaols advising that when a prisoner who had been photographed was transferred to another gaol, a copy of his photograph, mounted on the usual form, was to be attached to his papers. (3)

Description
In addition to at least one photograph of each prisoner, this series contains the following information: number, prisoners’ name, aliases, date when portrait was taken, native place, year of birth, details of arrival in the colony - ship and year of arrival, trade or occupation, religion, degree of education, height, weight (on committal, on discharge), colour of hair, colour of eyes, marks or special features, number of previous portrait, where and when tried, offence, sentence, remarks, and details of previous convictions (where and when, offence and sentence).

There appears to have been one face-on photograph per individual until about June 1894 when there was both a face-on and a side-on photograph per individual.

Format
While the information recorded varied little over time, there was some variation in the format of the records, particularly in the first eight years (August 1871 to April/May 1879). For this period, the primary and more complete sequence of records was kept in a double-page format, with the descriptive information recorded (with photographs) on the left hand page, and criminal history/previous convictions on the right-hand side. The original intention appears to have been to have two photographs of each prisoner, on arrival and discharge. This seems to have been done only occasionally (mainly in the first few years of the system).

An incomplete sequence of records in a single-page format has also survived as part of this series, covering the period August 1871 to March 1875. This is particularly important, as it includes some records for periods where there are gaps in the surviving primary sequence of records (particularly for the period August 1871 to February 1872, and November 1872 to October 1873).

From April/May 1879 onwards, the single page format became the standard for these records.
For the period July 1904 to July 1914, there is a parallel set of records for Darlinghurst at NRS 1942 (this series also contains records for the other NSW gaols).

Custody History
[11/2205] was an archival estray received from Mr F. Rogers of the Hastings District Historical Society.
Endnotes
1. NRS 1824, 4/6478, p.496, no.71/2676.
2. NRS 1834, 5/1826, p.144, no.71/31.
3. NRS 2179, 5/1823, p.334.
Home location: These records are held at Western Sydney Records Centre

Victoria
Victoria had yet to adopt the NSW system by September 1872, according to this anecdotal report which appeared in the Melbourne Argus and the Empire, NSW:



Prison Photography
Empire, NSW, 19 September 1872

TRANSCRIPT

PRISON PHOTOGRAPHY
A VERY good plan for assisting the police to recognise criminals is adopted in New South Wales, and might well be followed by the prison authorities in this colony. Every prisoner before he leaves the prison at the expiration of his sentence is photographed, and the likeness gives the police all over the colony the best possible description of every bad character who is at large. Copies of some of these photographs are sent to the detectives here, and one was used at the City Court on Monday. On Saturday evening a man, who gave the name of Wm. Phillips, was caught upstairs in the private bedroom of the landlord of the Dover Hotel, corner of Victoria and Lygon streets. He was wearing over his boots a pair of felt slippers, which enabled him to walk noiselessly, and on the ground which he had passed over a skeleton key was found. He was recognised as an old offender, known as Isaac Williams, with half a dozen aliases, who had been convicted repeatedly in Victoria and New South Wales. A book containing his photograph, taken just before he left the gaol in New South Wales, was produced, and placed his identity beyond doubt. His defence was that he had been doing a job at "shingling," though he was a tailor, and had put on the felt slippers to prevent him slipping off the roof he was working upon. When he went into the hotel he got past the bar and into the bedroom upstairs by mistake. He was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment with hard labour, and feeling agrieved gave notice of appeal. The photographer sometimes has difficulty when "taking off" a prisoner. One man whose portrait was in the book produced was represented in the act of executing a most comical wink, and a marginal note intimated that he had tried to spoil the likeness by contorting his features at the moment the picture was being taken. - Melbourne Argus.

Source: PRISON PHOTOGRAPHY. (1872, September 19). Empire (Sydney, NSW : 1850 - 1875), p. 4. Retrieved from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60865786

Pentridge Prison (Vic) 1874



Launceston Examiner 22 Aug 1874

TRANSCRIPT

VICTORIA. The system of taking photographic likenesses of prisoners at the Pentridge Stockade is stated to have proved of great assistance to the police department in detecting crime. The system was commenced at Pentridge about two years ago, and since then one of the officials who had a slight knowledge of the art, with the assistance of a prisoner has taken nearly 7000 pictures, duplicates of which have been sent to all parts of this and the adjacent colonies. But it has been considered rather too expensive, to employ an official entirely for the purpose, and as constant employment could not be provided in the future, a photographer has lately been appointed, who will visit the stockade twice in the week, and the hulks at Williamstown once. -- Argus. Launceston Examiner 22 Aug 1874

The Victorian government employed a commercial photographer to visit the Pentridge prison twice weekly, and to visit the hulks moored at Williamstown once a week. The photographer conventionally accredited as the Pentridge photographer for more than twenty years is Charles Nettleton (1826-1902) - for example, this statement which appears in an online biography at the ADB:

He was police photographer for over twenty-five years and his portrait of Ned Kelly, of which one print is still extant, is claimed to be the only genuine photograph of the outlaw.

Yet Nettleton's name does not appear in the Victorian Gazette as a photographic contractor to any  government department during the entire period of the 1870s and 1880s. His name only appears on these dates:

1863: Partnership dissolved with John Calder



Victorian Government Gazette 16 June 1863

1879: Patent for photogravure



Victorian Government Gazette 10 April 1879

1886: Insolvency again



Victorian Government Gazette 9 April 1886

This omission was not unusual when commercial photographers operated on commission. The only photographers listed in the Victorian Gazette up until 1875 were Batchelder and O'Neill, who supplied the Department of Lands and Survey with photographic chemicals and materials. The contract dated 17th March, 1865, does not indicate they these two photographers were the ones who would eventually use the  chemicals in government service.

1865: Batchelder and O'Neill contract



Victorian Government Gazette 17 March 1865

1875: Felton, Grimawade, and Co.
This large concern supplied not just photographic materials to the General Stores of the Victorian government; they also supplied medicines etc, all of which were gazetted simply as "Contingencies 1875-76". Likewise, photographic chemicals and materials supplied by tender and used by Thomas Nevin in Tasmania from 1872 onwards were listed in Government stores simply as Supplies, Hobart City Corporation and Office of the Inspector of Police.





Victorian Government Gazette 23 April 1875

The list of chemicals here shows the extent to which the Victorian Government was using documentary photography by 1875. But again, no photographer's contract to the Prisons Department or Office of Inspector of Police was gazetted until John Noone's name was gazetted in August 1881.



Victorian Government Gazette 23 April 1875



Victorian Gazette 6 August 1881

Nettleton's Patent Registrations (Victoria) 1870s





National Archives of Australia Ref: A2388
Registers of Proprietors of Paintings, Photographs, Works of Art and Sculpture
Charles Nettleton’s government commission to take photographs of the Benevolent Asylum, National Museum, the Royal Mint (1873) etc
Photography © KLW NFC 2008 ARR

PATENTS REGISTRATION
The stamps appearing on the photographs (below) of Lowry, taken by photographer Charles Nettleton (Victoria), were inscribed with the numbers "189" and "190" when registered as commercial photographs with the Victorian Patents Office in 1870. The use of this stamp continued in Victoria until 1873. The inscription - "The convict 'Lowry' " - on the verso of the mounted cdv suggests it was taken of a prisoner for police and gaol records, because Nettleton was known to have worked for police over a period of twenty years to the 1880s (Kerr, 1992).



State Library of Victoria Catalogue
Creator: Nettleton, Charles, 1826-1902, photographer.
Title: The convict ’Lowry’ [picture] / Charles Nettleton.
Accession number(s): H96.160/1583 H96.160/1584
Date(s) of creation: 1870.
Medium: 2 photographs : albumen silver ;
Dimensions: 10 x 6 cm. each.
Collection: Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection
Contents/Summary:Two portrait photographs of the convict, Lowry. H96.160/1583 shows him full-length, outdoors and leaning on a steel fence. H96.160/1584, a vignette bust portrait. He wears a shirt and unbuttoned jacket, and has a moustache.
Notes:Title inscribed on verso.
Date of copyright registration ascertained from Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection (VPOCC) Index: Aug. 6 1870.
VPOCC registration number inscribed on item l.c. & l.r.: 189 & 190.
Registered by Frederick Secretair, Russell Street, Melbourne.
Original Picture Collection location number: Env. 24, no. 39 & 40.
Subject(s):Male prisoners -- Victoria -- 1870.
Portrait photographs ;Albumen prints.
Vignettes. Source/Donor:
Transferred from The Victorian Patents Office to the Melbourne Public Library 1908.
The files which now comprise the Victorian Patents Office Copyright Collection were begun by the Victorian Patents Office in 1870. In order to register copyright, a copy of the photograph, print or illustration was lodged with the Victorian Patents Office at the Melbourne Town Hall. A number was assigned and the photographs were mounted in scrapbooks. The photographs were stamped with the date of registration but this ceased in 1873. The original registers are now in the National Archives of Australia. The Picture Collection holds photocopies of these registers. The registers or indexes contain the following information: Date of registration, name and address of proprietor or author, description of the work and date of first publication. Images were registered from 1870 until 1906. The collection was transferred to the Melbourne Public Library in 1908.
Call number: PIC LTAF 980

Tasmanian Patents 1860s-1880s
In Tasmania, Thomas J. Nevin designed seven studio stamps for commercial use, plus one which appears on the versos of prisoners' identification photographs bearing the Royal Arms government insignia. This was for use on commission with the Hobart Municipal Police Office, and Hobart City Council and registered at the Office of the Registrar of Patents, Customs House, Hobart. These registers are now held at the Archives Office of Tasmania Series RGD9/1/1, RGD12, from 1859-1904.



Webshot: Office of the Registrar of Patents (Archives Office Tasmania)