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

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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

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