Showing posts with label Supreme Court Convictions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supreme Court Convictions. Show all posts

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

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

George JOYCE: the face of racism



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

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

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

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

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



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

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

Albert E Nevin, with horse 1914

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

TRANSCRIPT
SUPREME COURT.
HOBART CRIMINAL SITTINGS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

White Australia badge

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

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

George Joyce's rap sheet, 1913-1918

George Joyce mugshots 1918

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

Joyce, George rap sheet 1918

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

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

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

George JOYCE, Police Gazette notice 1918

SC record 1918 George Joyce

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

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

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

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

Resources: the Casimaty family

Biographies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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



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



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





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

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

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



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

Paper documents

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

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

Mugshots of Women Prisoners, Tasmania 1897-1910

Elizabeth ORLANDO, murder charge and MUGSHOT
Booking shots of WOMEN in hats, 1890s-1910, HOBART GAOL
MARION camera, Hobart Gaol 1890s

Marion Camera Hobart Gaol 1900s

Marion's Excelsior Camera, 22 & 23 Soho Sq., London WW1D 3QR
The firm operated from this address between c.1866 - 1913.
Held at Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site, Campbell St., site of the former Hobart Gaol and Supreme Court.
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2015 ARR

This camera was used by the (as yet) unidentified photographer at the Hobart Gaol from the 1890s. Prior to the 1890s, prisoners were photographed by Constable John Nevin who was resident and salaried at H.M. Gaol until his death from typhoid fever in 1891, working with his brother, commercial photographer, government contractor and civil servant Thomas J. Nevin who attended the gaol and Supreme Court Oyer and Terminer sessions on a monthly and quarterly roster. One of two rooms used by the photographers at the Hobart Gaol was located above the women's laundry. Before it was demolished in 1915, government contractor John Watt Beattie salvaged the majority of photographs taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the 1870s from the laundry and the Sheriff's Office. He displayed them at his "Port Arthur Museum", located in Hobart, and toured them at intercolonial exhibitions from the Royal Hotel, Sydney, 1916 in conjunction with convictaria exhibited on the floating museum, the fake convict ship Success.

1897: Elizabeth Orlando aka Eliza Poole
In 1887 Elizabeth Orlando stabbed to death her husband Victor Orlando at the breakfast table in Mrs Parker's lodging house, Campbell St. Hobart, Tasmania. She was sentenced to life in prison. She was previously known to police as Eliza Poole, charged with minor offences.

1887: sentenced to life

TRANSCRIPT
THE INQUEST.
An inquest touching the death of Victor Orlander, or Orlando, was hold this afternoon before Mr. P. W. Mitchell, coroner, and a jury of seven, of whom Mr. G. F. Hiddlestone was foreman.

The jury viewed the body, after which the following evidence was elicited.
Dr. C. J. Parkinson deposed that the cause of deceased's death was loss of blood from a deep wound behind the left ear.
Mrs. Mary Parker deposed she was proprietress of Parker's lodging-house in Campbell-street, where she resided with her husband; deceased and his wife had been staying in witness's lodgings; last Monday week deceased went there alone and lodged, and the following Monday his wife went there also; and they boarded and lodged together until that morning; they sometimes quarrelled they would go out sober and return under the influence of drink, and then quarrelled. Mrs. Orlander used to aggravate deceased, who seemed a very quiet man; on Thursday night they quarrelled more than usual, and thinking they had better be separated, witness between 12 p.m. and 1 am. that morning separated them, taking Mrs. Orlander into her own room and leaving deceased down stairs; when witness arose at 8 that morning deceased and his wife had left the house; at 8.45 they returned deceased went into the kitchen and asked for breakfast; so did accused; the table was already laid, knives, forks etc., being upon it; Orlander and his wife were sitting at the table, the wife being on his left hand; upon Mrs. Orlander also asking for breakfast, deceased said three times -" No, she shall not have any;" witness said to Mrs. Orlander, "Take no notice, he is only joking;" she then served Mrs. Orlander's breakfast, and then turned her back to where they were sitting, in order to attend to the household work at another table; she next went to the door, and was going to an adjoining room, when, hearing a scuffle, she turned round, and saw Mrs. Orlander with a table knife in her hand, though still sitting down; she appeared to be prodding deceased in the neck; witness thought at first that Mrs. Orlander was doing this for a lark, but on the third thrust she noticed blood spurt, and exclaimed, "Oh my God, the man is stabbed ;" she could not say that at the first or second thrust the knife entered deceased's neck, but she saw the third thrust enter the flesh, and saw Mrs. Orlander pull the knife out from the wound; a man named Clark was in the room at the same time, sitting at another table; witness raised the alarm, and some lodgers came out of an adjoining room, and took deceased to the hospital; deceased said nothing; nor made any noise whatever; witness took the knife, which was stained for 4in. in blood and wiped it; she subsequently gave it to the police; after deceased was removed Mrs. Orlander was like a mad woman about the house, and in ten minutes time went up stairs where she remained until the police came; when deceased came in to breakfast they did not appear much under the influence of drink : they knew what they were doing; the wife appeared more sober than the husband, who was perhaps half drunk; she had never heard Mrs. Orlander use any threats or acts of violence against her husband beyond the fact that she would strike him, which she did with her closed hand.
To the Coroner - No time elapsed between the three thrusts; they being made immediately after each other.
John Edwards deposed he was a licensed victualler residing at Bothwell; he knew Mrs. Orlander for between four and five years, and deceased for about three or four years; deceased was a labourer; they lived together as man and wife at Bothwell, where they were married three years ago; they were absent from Bothwell for 11 months, but returned to Bothwell three months ago; they lived a very unhappy life ; witness attributed their unhappiness to drink on the part of the wife; he never knew any violence occur between them;; he saw them together in Bothwell about 16 days ago; Mrs. Orlander there received a sentence of 14 days imprisonment for abusive language towards another female, and was sent to the Hobart lock-up; deceased remained in Bothwell for two or three days, and then witness missed him; he next saw them together on Thursday morning, about 10 o'clock, in a hotel in the city; he saw them again that (Friday) morning; between 8 and 9 that morning deceased was walking up Campbell-street towards Parker's lodging-house; he appeared to be perfectly sober; witness also saw Mrs. Orlander sitting in the bar of Clay's Union hotel smoking a pipe, and she seemed to be quite stupid from drink; he had often seen her in liquor; when in that condition she seemed to become perfectly mad.
John Clark, a labourer, deposed he lodged and boarded in Parker's lodging house; he was in the same room as the Orlander's when they were having breakfast that morning, but he was not observing them; hearing Mrs. Parker scream, he looked round and saw Mrs .Orlander draw a knife away from the neck of deceased, from which blood was spurting.
Richard Webb, a cook lodging at Parker's lodging-house, deposed to that morning hearing cries of "she has stabbed him" repeated twice, coming from the direction of the kitchen ; he hurried to the spot, and saw deceased sitting at the table and blood issuing from a severe wound in the neck, and also from his mouth; he then, with the assistance of others, conveyed him to the hospital.
Mr . P. Pedder, superintendent of police, deposed to arresting Mrs. Orlander at Parker's house. She was in a half stupid state; there was a quantity of blood on her hands; with Constable Chomley he took her to the police-station ; she asked where her husband was; witness replied that her husband was dead, and he would charge her with the murder; she became distressed and said her husband had been kind to her.
This concluded the evidence, and the coroner summed up. The jury, after a few moments retirement, returned a verdict of " guilty of manslaughter." Mrs Orlander was present during the taking of the evidence but asked no questions . The inquiry commenced at 4.30 pm. and terminated at 8 pm.

PRESS REPORTS
THE INQUEST. (1887, February 26). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899) p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39527652
SHOCKING TRAGEDY. (1887, February 26). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 3.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39527649

1897: sentence commuted
Elizabeth Orlando aka Eliza Poole was tried and imprisoned for murder at the Supreme Court Hobart, sentenced to life on 29 March 1887. Her Hobart Gaol rap sheet shows she was photographed (in prison dress) on 22 December 1897 and discharged on 23 December 1897. The photo's registration number was "793" and dated "22 .12. 97". The annotation in red ink at the foot on this record, not quite legible, is - Dis ? charged to the Probation - ? Launceston - see "Ticket of Leave".

Elizabeth Orlando prisoner Tasmania 1897



Orlando, Elizabeth identical with Eliza Poole
Record Type: Prisoners
Year: 1895-1897
Record ID:NAME_INDEXES:1450014
Resource: GD128/1/2
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1450014

1890s: discharged but "Photo not taken"
In this Hobart Gaol series - Book No. 1 GD63/2/1 - the records of men and women prisoners showing their discharge dates in the 1890s are listed in the same volume. Many of the men's records include a full-frontal mugshot with arms folded across their chest.

The women's records have a pencilled note written in the Remarks column - "Photo not taken" - which may have been written years, even decades later, including this record for Elizabeth Orlando aka Eliza Poole dated 22 December 1897. Yet she was photographed on discharge, as the record above clearly shows. A number of women, and a few were violent offenders like Elizabeth Orlando, must have been photographed on admission and discharge from the Hobart Gaol in the 1870s-1890s, but their photographs are yet to surface. Elizabeth Orlando's photograph has survived probably because she was released on probation with a ticket-of-leave. The last contemporary note in the Remarks column on her record states: "To freedom by Ticket of leave: 22 December 1897."



Discharged: prisoner Elizabeth Orlando
Pencilled inscription: Remarks - "Photo not taken"
Murder conviction SC on 29 March 1887, sentenced to life, commutation
"To freedom by Ticket of leave: 22 December 1897"
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/GD63-2-1/GD63-2-1P146JPG

1906-8: women prisoners in hats
Mugshots taken of women imprisoned at the Hobart Gaol were commonplace by the early 1900s. They were routinely photographed even if their sentence was little more than a week, a fortnight or month, and for the most minor offences such as indecent language and riotous behaviour.  The pose and dress of the prisoner in these series differ only slightly. Many wore their own hats, some wore the prison standard issue striped dress and straw boater. The dress code of the era proscribed a hat as a customary item of clothing, a social marker of personality and propriety, and retained as such to aid further identification in booking shots. Clearly, by this decade, the Bertillon method of posing the prisoner for two photographs, one in profile and one full-frontal facing the camera, was conventional procedure, augmented with a numerical classification of the prisoner's fingerprints. 

SERIES (1904-5):
Archives Office of Tasmania POL708-1-1
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/Archives/POL708-1-1



Prisoner Susan Brooks, or Williams
Photo: Inscribed Susannah Brooks, 19-6-1912, i.e. dated 19 June 1912
Discharged from the Hobart Gaol 26 April 1913, record date 12 May 1913
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-3/POL708-1-3P08JPG

In this series for the years 1906-1908, the booking shot in many cases showed each woman still dressed in her own clothes and wearing her own hat in profile, but bare-headed for the full-frontal pose. Some showed the backs of their hands if tattooed. Mugshots taken two years earlier, in the years 1904 and 1905, showed women already wearing the striped prison dress, no hats, in both the full frontal and profile shots.



Prisoner May Evans, sentenced to 7 days for indecent language, Hobart Police Office
Date when photo was taken: 28 April 1908, stamped 26 May 1908
Link:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P19J2K


MORE EXAMPLES:
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P35J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P76J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P89J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P107J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P136J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P147J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P149J2K



Prisoner Lily Lavelle, prostitution, riotous behaviour
Photo dated 28 August 1905, discharge stamped 1 Feb 1907
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P150J2K

MORE EXAMPLES
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P154J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P161J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P208J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P226J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P237J2K 1905 no hat prison dress 
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P258J2K ditto



Prisoner Margaret Steele, sentences from 1902 to 1905
Photo dated 1st April 1905, wearing prison dress
Record: POL708-1-1P278J2K

MORE EXAMPLES
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P278J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P279J2K ditto
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P286J2K
Link: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/POL708-1-1/POL708-1-1P304J2K 1904 no hat prison dress

ANOTHER SERIES
Series: GD63 PRISONERS RECORD BOOKS.
Item Number: GD63/1/1 (Book No. 2).
Further Description: Start Date: 01 Jan 1892. End Date: 31 Dec 1894
Link:https://stors.tas.gov.au/GD63-1-1



Prisoner Ellen Wilson alias Jones, sentences between 1893 and November 1919
Photo dated 10 January 1910
Record: GD63-1-1P747




Prisoner Isabella Keating, sentences from 1894 to 1914
Photo dated 1911 wearing prison dress and hat
Record: GD63-1-1P427




Prisoner Harriet Hardwicke or Cooper, sentences from 1994 to 1906
Photo dated 15 October 1906
Record: GD63-1-1P432




Prisoner Margaret Smith, sentences from 1892 to 1907
Photo dated 11 February 1907
Record: GD63-1-1P011




Prisoner Ann Kegan, sentences 1990 and 1993
The photo has been removed.
Record: GD63-1-1P248


"YOU MUST PROVE US PROSTITUTES"
Michael Lennen wrote this letter to the Superintendent of Police in May 1876 about two "little prostitutes" soliciting "boys" in Goulburn Street, Hobart Town. He claimed the girls were known - not only to him because one lived next door and the other opposite - they were also "well-known to all the men in the force" . Since, as he claimed, one of the girls called Lilias lived in a brothel, that brothel was either next to his house or opposite in the same street. His intention might have been to suggest to the Superintendent of Police that he was witness to policemen frequenting the brothel at their personal pleasure. Possibly, or simply that he wanted the two girls arrested, the brothel shut down, and peace restored to his street. All he needed, quoting the girls themselves - "you must prove us prostitutes" - was proof. If not proven, they could be charged with "riotous behaviour" and "indecent language", or being "idle and disorderly", sentenced to 7 days, a fortnight or a month in prison. The weekly police gazettes - Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police - do record a handful of female teenagers with these offences who faced court in Hobart from May to November 1876.

Letter to police 1876

TRANSCRIPT (punctuation not the writer's strongpoint) 

1876
Michael Lennen

Hobart Town
Monday 15 May 1876

Sir
I have to report for your information that I was in Goulburn street on Monday the 8th May I saw two females misconducting themselves I cautioned them I said you little prostitutes get away from this and let the boys go about their business they answered you must prove us prostitutes I said I could easily do that I have had to speak to yous on many occasions they then went away I know the girl Lilias to live in a brothel and they are both bad characters



TRANSCRIPT cont ...

well known to all the men in the force I make this statement as truth as one lives next door to me and the other opposite

Yours most Respectfully
Michael Lennen

The superintendant
of Police
Hobart Town

Source: Draft Minutes of the Police Committee
MCC16/63/1/1
9 Nov 1867-17 Feb 1879
Accessed 31 March 2014
Archives Office of Tasmania
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2014

Women detained under the Licensing Act, UK 1902.
Whether in Tasmania or London or Birmingham, women prisoners were uniformly photographed wearing their own hats in the first decade of the 20th century. These women were processed under the Metropolitan Police District Habitual Drunkards Licensing Act 1902.





Sources: Library of Birmingham and National Archives UK
Link:https://www.search.birminghamimages.org.uk/details.aspx?ResourceID=11596

Prisoner Thomas RYAN 1867-1877

Tasmanian government contractors Thomas J. NEVIN and Samuel PAGE
Prisoner identification photographs, Tasmania, 1870s.

Soho Square native Thomas Ryan was 26 yrs old when he was convicted at London Central Criminal Court in 1849 to serve ten years for stealing money, so his birth date if calculated from 1849 was ca. 1823. He arrived at Hobart, Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) on board the Oriental Queen in 1853, his occupation listed as blacksmith's striker.

The weekly police gazettes have dozens of notices of arrests, convictions and discharges for men with the name "Thomas Ryan" but very few for the subject of this photograph, Thomas Ryan per Oriental Queen. He is not to be confused with a much younger offender, 16 yr old Thomas Ryan, a Queen's Asylum apprentice who absconded from the service of Edward Haley, Dromedary (Tas) on 17 April 1868 (b. 1852). Nor with another Thomas Ryan, seaman, 22 years old in 1875 (b. 1853), who served 3 months for stealing an oilskin coat, whose name appears as "Bryan" and "Bryant" in some police and press notices. Another Thomas Ryan alias Kennedy per Ratcliffe, an Irishman from Cork with no distinguishing marks was 45 yrs old in 1875 (b. 1830) when he served one month for being idle and disorderly. Questions then arise as to the identity and/or aliases of the man in prisoner clothing in this photograph, why his conviction merited a mugshot, and where and when he was photographed.

Prisoner Thomas Ryan's mugshot





Prisoner RYAN, Thomas
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin
Taken at the Hobart Gaol, 1873-4
Recto "126": Verso: Oriental Queen [ship]
TMAG Collection Ref: Q15593 ex QVMAG Beattie Collection

The recto of this mugshot was numbered "126" below the photograph on the mount when it was catalogued at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston, on accession from the estate of convictarian collector John Watt Beattie in the early 1930s. The cdv with this number is now listed as missing from Beattie's collection at the QVMAG. It was removed and taken to the Port Arthur Heritage site for an exhibition in 1983 and deposited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, along with another fifty (50) or so of these prisoner cdv's exhibited as the work of Thomas J. Nevin at the QVMAG in 1977, instead of being re-united with the other 250 or so mugshots in Beattie's collection. Those fifty or so mugshots by Thomas Nevin now held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery including this one of Thomas Ryan are viewable on this weblog here (but not online at the TMAG) : Rogues Gallery: the TMAG Collection

The verso states simply the name of the prisoner "Thomas Ryan" and the ship "Oriental Queen" on which he was transported. The verso of this mugshot escaped the archivist who wrote "Taken at Port Arthur 1874" in the 1900s on the backs of hundreds of these 1870s mugshots held at the National Library of Australia (NLA), the QVMAG and the TMAG (all are copies or duplicates of the single sitting with Nevin from his negative). Unlike most of these cdv's,  the inscription appears on the vertical instead of horizontal orientation of the verso. The backing shows a pattern similar to others where the photograph was removed from where it had once been pasted to carboard (the blue criminal rap sheet and photo book) or to calico which Nevin used when sending photographs through the mail.

This prisoner was photographed at the Hobart Gaol by government contractor Thomas J. Nevin in 1873-4. There is no suggestion on the markings of this photograph that the prisoner was photographed at Port Arthur, nor are there records of earnings by a prisoner named Thomas Ryan at Port Arthur in the years 1873-1876 (1873 -76 CON94-1-2 AOT) although the name appears among those who were relocated from Port Arthur back to the Hobart Gaol along with the majority of colonial prisoners from July 1873 onwards with Parliament's call for the immediate closure of Port Arthur. Is this the same prisoner?

Prisoner Thomas Ryan's transportation records
Archives Office Tasmania
https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Record/NamesIndex/1431623
Ryan, Thomas
Record Type: Convicts
Employer: Hudson, Joseph: 1853; Dixon, James: 1855
Property: Port Arthur Penal Station
Departure date: 4 Nov 1852
Departure port: Plymouth
Ship: Oriental Queen
Voyage number: 360
Police number: 27779
Index number: 61843
Record ID: NAME_INDEXES:1431623




Source: https://stors.tas.gov.au/CON33-1-114$init=CON33-1-114p211



Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON14-1-47/CON14-1-47_00100_L
Source: https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/CON14-1-47/CON14-1-47_00101_L

Prisoner Thomas Ryan's police gazette records
This offense dated 1867 is one of several short sentences of three months or less recorded in the weekly police gazettes for this individual Thomas Ryan per Oriental Queen. A conviction in the Supreme Court would likely mean a mugshot was taken, but this Thomas Ryan, sentenced only to 3 months in a regional lock-up (Ross), was not photographed there.



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police Gov't printer J. Barnard

Thomas Ryan, native place London, 32 yrs old, 5ft 6½ins tall, wreath and bird right arm, per Oriental Queen to colony, was discharged at Launceston from a sentence of 3 months on 18 January 1867 for being idle and disorderly. He was sentenced at Ross (Tas) on 24 Oct 1866. Five years later his name appears again in the police gazettes, charged on 23 December 1870 with larceny, sentenced to three months at Longford  and discharged on 29 March 1871. His age was given as 40yrs old.



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police Gov't printer J . Barnard

Thomas Ryan per Ol Queen [Oriental Queen] was discharged in March 1871 but just a few months later, on 1st June 1871, he was convicted at the Supreme Court Launceston for feloniously receiving. He was sentenced to 7 years.



Court record: Thomas Ryan and his accomplice Samuel Smith were tried on 22 April 1871 for housebreaking and receiving.
Guilty verdict. Thomas Ryan was sentenced to 7yrs imprisonment, Samuel Smith to 4yrs.
Archives Office Tasmania AB693-1-1 1871 - The Prosecutions Project
Source:https://libraries.tas.gov.au/Digital/AB693-1-1/AB693-1-1_097

Details of the crime and sentence passed on Thomas Ryan and Smith were published in the Cornwall Advertiser Tuesday 6 June 1871, page 2:

HOUSEBREAKING. Thomas Ryan and Samuel Smith were charged with breaking and entering into the dwelling house of Elizabeth Stobie Pegus, in Lord street, and stealing a blanket, counterpane, a gold eye-glass and other articles; on a second count they were charged with receiving the same.
Mrs Pegus left home on the morning of 11th May, to into town, and on her return about five in the afternoon she found a pane of glass in the window broken and the window-sash up. She searched the house, and missed some of her clothes off her bed. The prisoner Smith had breakfast at her house that morning; and Ryan had been seen during the day in the vicinity of the house. A witness had seen the prisoner examining a bundle in an unfrequented street; and Prisoner Smith offered for sale property like that stolen. The jury found Smith guilty on the first count, and Ryan on the second.

Source: HOUSEBREAKING. (1871, June 6). Cornwall Advertiser (Launceston) p. 2.
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232999744

On a document dated 10 June 1873 and tabled in Parliament as "Nominal Return of all prisoners sent to Port Arthur since its transfer to the Colonial government", prisoner Thomas Ryan was listed with these details, although the date of his arrival there is not readily retrievable:

Ryan, Thomas 39 yrs old convicted on 1 June 1871 at the Supreme Court Launceston for feloniously receiving. He was sentenced to 7 years.

All sentences of longer than three months passed in Launceston meant transfer to the Hobart Gaol. The press reported Thomas Ryan's transfer from Launceston to Hobart in 1871 in the company of other prisoners, most likely on board government contractor Sam Page's Royal Mail coach, a photograph of which Nevin produced for government records (see below).

ARRIVAL OF PRISONERS - The prisoners convicted at the recent criminal sitting of the Supreme Court at Launceston arrived here by the coach last evening. Alfred Maldon, who shot Constable Eddie, at Launceston, and received sentence of ten years; Michael O'Brien, who was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, for maliciously breaking about fifty squares of of glass in Dr. Milner's house at Launceston ; Thomas Duncan, sentenced to five years for house-breaking, and Thomas Ryan, seven years for feloniously receiving, were the prisoners. By the same coach a diminutive little fellow ten years of age, who received a sentence of ten days for stealing some tobacco and 10lbs. of mutton at the West Tamar, arrived here to undergo a term of five years' detention at the reformatory.

Source: Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Saturday 10 June 1871, page 2
Link: https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8867722

These four prisoners may have been photographed at the Hobart Gaol by Thomas J. Nevin in the days after their arrival in 1871, but as Nevin's commission to begin the systematic photographing of prisoners commenced six months later, in February 1872, his photographs of these men were more likely taken on their relocation back to the Hobart House of Corrections and discharge from the Mayor's Court in the mid 1870s.

Alfred Malden/Maldon's mugshot 1874
New York native Alfred Malden was one of Thomas Ryan's companions on the coach trip south from Launceston to the Hobart Gaol in June 1871 (with armed constables). The early 1900s transcription on the versos of Malden's cdv's show two versions of his name (Malden/Maldon) and his ship of arrival in Tasmania as the Tamar (mis-spelt). The transcriber's use of the generic date "1874", and the generic place of imprisonment as "Port Arthur" was written when these cdv's were removed from prisoner rap sheets and police office photo books for display and sale in the name of early 20th century dark tourism. In many, many instances, this same date and place systematically transcribed across the versos of hundreds of these prisoner cdvs forty (40) years after their original use in police hands do not reflect the facts of the prisoner's criminal history at the time he was photographed. Malden's records show he was sent to Port Arthur a month after processing at the Hobart Gaol in 1871, and returned to the Hobart Gaol in 1873 where he was discharged from the House of Corrections on 10 January 1874. His sentence of ten years passed in 1871 was reduced on discharge in 1874 on condition he leave the colony of Tasmania. Two copies of T. J. Nevin's single capture of prisoner Alfred Maldon/Malden are held at the National Library of Australia (Canberra); one is held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (Hobart).



Prisoner Alfred Maldon [Malden]
Photographed by T. J. Nevin, Hobart, July 1873-February 1874
TMAG Ref: 15619





Two mounted cdv duplicates and versos from single sitting with prisoner Alfred Malden/Maldon
Photographed by T. J. Nevin, Hobart, July 1873-February 1874
Photo taken at the National Library of Australia, 6 Feb 2015
Photos copyright © KLW NFC 2015

As assurance to the Parliament, one hundred and nine (109) names of convicts who were sent to Port Arthur from the Hobart Gaol from the year 1871 at the discretion of the Hobart Gaol Sheriff Thomas Reidy were officially tabled in Parliament on July 15th 1873 as soon as the resolution was passed in the House of Assembly to immediately close the prison at Port Arthur and transfer the prisoners there back to the Hobart Gaol. Thomas Nevin's earlier contract with the Lands and Survey Department dating from 1868 was extended to provide the Parliament with their photographs.

Of those one hundred and nine (109) prisoners originally sent from the Hobart Gaol to Port Arthur after 1871 - the "Port Arthur convicts" as they became known in the mid 20th century - sixty (60) had already been transferred back to the Hobart Gaol by October 1873. On arrival at the Hobart Gaol, they were photographed in standard issue prison clothing by contractor T. J. Nevin on being processed or "received". His photographs of a number of these transferred prisoners taken in 1873 were duplicated and sent back to the Port Arthur prison administration during the last weeks of A. H. Boyd's incumbency as Commandant.

Many of the prisoners' names on that list, tabled in Parliament on 15th July 1873, tally with the names (and aliases) of the prisoners whose photographs survive in public collections. Many of those same names appear again on the list tabled in Parliament in 1875 as the Report of the Commission into Penal Discipline, viz. the "convict portraits" identified by name held at the National Library of Australia (84), most of which are copies and exact duplicates of the prisoner photographs by T. J. Nevin held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery (72), the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (56), the Mitchell Library SLNSW (13), and the State Library of Tasmania (10).



Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime for Police Gov't printer J . Barnard

Thomas Ryan was convicted of further offenses into the late 1870s, using the alias Thomas Williams when tried at Hobart on 12 January 1877 for being idle and disorderly.

Royal Mail Coach 1874 photo by T. J. Nevin

Photograph by T.J. Nevin of contractor Sam Page's Royal Mail coach 1874
The figure of coach painter Tom Davis and Burdon's company name were painted out.
QMAG Collection Ref: 1987_P_0220.


The verso of this photograph carries T. J. Nevin's Royal Arms colonial warrant stamp used for government work.

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