Thomas J. Nevin | Tasmanian Photographer

Thomas Nevin's Christmas cards 1874

A Photographic Feat
On Christmas Day, 25th December 1874, the Mercury newspaper (Tasmania) published a notice which served the dual purpose of praising Thomas J. Nevin's photographic talents and suggesting by way of praise that the "literary curiosity" would make a great gift as a Christmas card:

Thos Nevin photographic feat Mercury 24 Dec 1874

T. J. Nevin's photographic feat, Mercury 25 December 1874

TRANSCRIPT

A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEAT. - Mr T. J. Nevin, of Elizabeth-street, has performed a feat in photography which may be justly regarded as a literary curiosity. He has succeeded in legibly producing the front page of the Mercury of Wednesday, the 23 inst., on a card three inches by two inches. Many of the advertisements could be read without the aid of a glass, and the seven columns admit of a margin all round the card.

Below is a microfiche scan of the front page of the Mercury, Wednesday 23rd December 1874. It is a poor reproduction despite our 21st century technology, yet Nevin managed to photograph the full broadsheet onto a 3 x 2 inch card without sacrificing margins or legibility.

Scan of front page the Mercury 23rd December 1874
See the full page as PDF:Nevin front page Mercury 23 December 1874

Thomas Nevin would have delivered to the newspaper office a commercial version of the card which must have been printed verso with his official government contractor studio stamp in 1874, the only one of his stamps bearing his full initials - " T. J. Nevin" - above the Royal Arms insignia, since the journalist has used his full initials in the report. He was better known as Thos Nevin. The same studio stamp was printed on the verso of this carte-de-visite vignette of a child (Lucy Batchelor Collection). Nevin or his studio assistants, possibly in this instance his wife Elizabeth, hand-painted the green and red motif of Christmas holly over some object held by the child. The same sprig of holly motif appears on other extant cartes by Nevin, positioned in the hands of a teenage girl in one carte bearing the hand-written inscription verso "Clifford & Nevin, Hobart Town", (Harrisson Collection), and in another, on the lapel of a young sailor (TMAG; State Library Tas). The cdv of this (unknown) toddler would have been included in Nevin's stock of Christmas cards for 1874, on sale at 140 Elizabeth Street along with the miniature reproduction of the Mercury's front page.

Detail:Nevin photo of baby Lucy Batchelor Collection

Detail of the holly motif

Nevin photo of baby Lucy Batchelor Collection

Photograph of baby with Christmas holly
and its verso by T. J. Nevin, Christmas 1874
Scans courtesy of Robyn and Peter Bishop
Copyright © The Lucy Batchelor Collection 2009.

Commercial Xmas Card 1880s

https://eprints.utas.edu.au/6693/
Walker, James Backhouse Photograph of track and rocky outcrop, Mount Wellington Tasmania.
University of Tasmania Library Special and Rare Materials Collection, Australia. (Unpublished)

Thomas Nevin and H.H. Baily at the Regatta 1872

The photograph below was taken by H. H. Baily on Regatta Day, Hobart, Tasmania, and advertised on 2 February 1872 in the local press. The Mercury published a notice informing the public of its availability, describing the scene in great detail.

Photo by H. H. Baily, Regatta Day 1872.
State Library of Tasmania
Ref: AUTAS001126252188 (n.a. online)

Praise in the Press, 2nd February 1872
The Hobart Mercury informed readers that Henry Hall Baily had forwarded a copy of this photograph to the newspaper offices in the first of two notices. The second notice informed readers that Thomas J. Nevin's photographs taken of an organised tour called "The Colonists' Trip" down the Derwent were also available, and were "very well taken."

H.H. Baily and Thomas Nevin at the Regatta, Mercury 2 February 1872

TRANSCRIPT

PHOTO OF THE CHAMPION GIG RACE.- Mr H. H. Baily, photographer, has succeeded in obtaining an admirable picture of the start for the Champion Gig Race, of which he has forwarded us a copy. In the background are the hills beyond the Derwent. On the bosom of the river lies Clio, with every rope and her innumerable flags clearly brought out. Beside Her Majesty's ship is the Government schooner Harriet, between which and the shore are the competing gigs, with their crews well brought out. The other various craft cruising about have been well caught, and prominent by the cattle jetty is the Monarch, every inch of which is crowded with the figures on those aboard. The picture will make an acceptable souvenir of the Regatta. Why has not a photograph of the Domain, with its thousands of spectators, taken from on board some of the steamers when stationary?

THE TRIP DOWN THE RIVER.- A photograph of the "Colonists' Trip" has been very well taken by Mr. Nevin, which will be of special interest to those who took part, and will probably like to secure this remembrance of so memorable event.

Thomas Nevin's advertisement, Mercury, 2 February 1872

TRANSCRIPT

VISITORS’ PHOTOGRAPHS
MR. THOMAS NEVIN
140, ELIZABETH-STREET,
HAS NOW ON HAND GROUPS
OF THE
COLONISTS’ TRIP
TO ADVENTURE BAY.
Feb. 2nd, 1872.

Several of these group photographs taken by Thomas J. Nevin of the "Colonists' Trip" are held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Others printed in various formats of the same VIP group on the trip are held in a private collection, for example:

Stereograph of the VIPS by Nevin on board the City of Hobart 31st January 1872
Stereograph with T. Nevin Photo blindstamp impress recto on right hand side
Verso with T. J. Nevin's government contractor's stamp with Royal Arms insignia.
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Collection Ref: Q1994.56.2

From an album compiled by the families of John Woodcock Graves jnr and R. Byron Miller
Private Collection © KLW NFC Imprint 2015
Photo by T. J. Nevin of VIP group, Adventure Bay, part of the "Colonists' Trip" series
Verso inscriptions include these identifiable figures at the "Picnic":
Father = John Woodcock Graves jnr,
Sir John O'Shanassy = former Premier of Victoria,
Self = Jean Porthouse Graves, daughter of John W. Graves,
L. Boyes = Lukin Boyes (?), son of G.T. W. Boyes

RELATED POSTS main weblog

In his own words ...

"T. J. NEVIN
PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTIST,
Returns his sincere thanks to his friends and the public for past favours, and having made a considerable Reduction in his Prices to suit the times, he solicits a continuance of their patronage, and invites attention to his circulars, showing particulars of the small cost for a first- class faithful Likeness"
140 ELIZABETH-STREET"
Hobart Mercury, 1st February 1873

“I hope that you have not got it in your mind that I am implicated with the ghost“.
Hobart Mercury, 4 December 1880

"Defendant said that he was the father of a large number of children, and did not know which one was referred to. (Laughter.)"
Hobart Mercury, 11 August 1886

"Mr. Thos Nevin was under the impression that the police should be under stricter supervision."
Hobart Mercury, 19 July 1888.

BIOGRAPHY: professional photographer Thomas James Nevin snr (1842-1923) produced arge numbers of stereographs and cartes-de- visite within his commercial practice, and prisoner identification photographs on government contract. His career spanned nearly three decades, from the early 1860s to the late 1880s. He was one of the first photographers to work with the police in Australia, along with Charles Nettleton (Victoria) and Frazer Crawford (South Australia). His Tasmanian prisoner mugshots are among the earliest to survive in public collections, viz. the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston; the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart; the Tasmanian Heritage and Archives Office, Hobart; the Port Arthur Historic Site, Tasman Peninsula; the National Library of Australia, Canberra; and the Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW, Sydney. Thomas J. Nevin's stereographs and portraits are held in public and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, France and Switzerland.

IMPORTANT NOTICES

INDIGENOUS NOTICE:
lutruwita/Tasmania/Van Diemen's Land (loo-tru-wee-ta) always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

This weblog pays respect to the ancestors and elders past, present, and emerging of the first Australian peoples and acknowledges their continued connection to land, sea and culture as the traditional custodians of this country.

Irish-born Thomas J. Nevin would have been keenly aware that the residence and photographic studio he occupied at No's 138-140 Elizabeth St. Hobart in the 1870s were built on the traditional lands, nipaluna of the palawa people. It is no small irony that today, the very same property, which is renumbered as No. 198 Elizabeth St. Hobart and is occupied by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, has returned to its traditional owners.

Looking east from the corner of Patrick St., the Royal Standard Hotel, 142 Elizabeth St. then T. J. Nevin’s studio and residence, 140-138 Elizabeth St. Hobart, 1870s

We also acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the City of Sydney, and the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, the traditional custodians of the Kamberri/Canberra region on whose lands this site is maintained.

PLEASE NOTE: images on this weblog represent deceased people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Viewing such images may cause sadness and distress.

DISCLAIMER: We have not voluntarily contributed to any publication which supports the misattribution of T. J. Nevin's prisoner/convict photographs (300+ extant) to the non-photographer A. H. Boyd, nor do we condone any attempts by public institutions or private individuals to co-opt the work on these Thomas J. Nevin weblogs and associated sites to apply the misattribution.

Anthony Trollope at Port Arthur

Thomas Nevin's VIP commission 1872

VISIT TO PORT ARTHUR.- Mr. Trollope and the Hon. Howard Spensly, Esq., Solicitor-General of Victoria, accompanied the Hon. the Premier, J.M. Wilson, Esq., and the Hon. the Attorney-General, W.R. Giblin, Esq., embarked in the Government schooner late last night, some time after Mr. Trollope had concluded his lecture on "Modern Fiction, as a recreation for young people," and left for Port Arthur. Their visit to the Peninsula will be a very hurried one, and will afford them only scant opportunity of inspecting the penal establishment, it being the intention of Messrs. Trollope and Spensly to leave Hobart Town for the North, en route for Victoria in a few days ...

Source: The Mercury 2 February 1872