Tasmanian prisoner portraits from TAHO at Flickr

The Archives Office of Tasmania collection
Online until recently, the Archives Office of Tasmania digitized and displayed 92 copies of the carte-de-visite photographs of Tasmanian convicts held at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, originals of which which were exhibited at the QVMAG in the 1970s as the work of Thomas J. Nevin.

Webshots show the online records were captioned "Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin" (see the complete list here) and some were dated 1874 or earlier. In fact, few were taken at Port Arthur, and many were taken over a period of years in the 1870s-1880s. The date and place of the AOT caption reflects the error about Port Arthur as the place where all of these photographs were taken, made by an archivist in the early 1900s, probably by Edward Searle while working in John Watt Beattie at his museum and studio in Hobart between 1911-1916 where three panels of forty prisoner mugshots were offered for sale, among other convict memorabilia. Similarly, the date "1874" does not reflect actual judicial events in the prisoner's criminal career, i.e. whether he was photographed on sentencing, incarceration or discharge. The photographer attribution to Thomas J. Nevin, however, was and still is correct.

The majority - but not all - of the collection of Tasmanian prisoner photographs taken in the 1870s held at the Archives Office of Tasmania are black and white paper copies reproduced ca. 1985 from original cdvs held in the collection at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.

TAHO Commons Collection at Flickr

Tasmanian gaol records (1860-1936)Tasmanian gaol records (1895-1897)Tasmanian gaol records (1895-1897)Tasmanian gaol records (1895-1897)Tasmanian gaol records (1895-1897)Tasmanian gaol records (1895-1897)

Tasmanian convict + prison photos, a set by Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office on Flickr (Commons).

See the article on this site about the photograph of prisoner Hugh Cohen and another of Cohen by Nevin at the Mitchell Library SLNSW. The majority of mugshots in this collection were taken from the 1890s to the early 1900s. Some show the same prisoner photographed by Nevin in the 1870s but as a much older re-offender, eg. James Geary, originally photographed in 1874 and again in 1889. In addition to this selection of gaol mugshots on prisoner records , the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office holds over 90 copies and originals of Nevin's prisoner portraits, tagged at the National Library of Australia's Trove service.

Estrays at TAHO with APA citation
Recent 1870s originals uploaded by TAHO (improvements on the black and white copies from the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery) are these, with TAHO's original APA citations:



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "Alfred Doran, probably Albert Dorman, convict transported per Blenheim.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "George Growsett, convict transported per Lady Montague.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."
Read more about this prisoner here: Prisoner George GROWSETT 1860 and 1873



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "James Harrison, convict transported per Rodney.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."
Read more about this prisoner here: Prisoner James HARRISON



Henry Smith - but unidentified by TAHO
LINC Tasmania APA citation: "Convict, transported per Rodney.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."
Read more about this prisoner here: How misattribution can persist



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "James Smith, Convict transported per John Calvin.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "Robert West, convict transported per Gilmore.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "William Ryan, arrived free per City of Hobart, tried Launceston 1868.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."
Read more about this prisoner here: Prisoner William RYAN wholesale forger at the TMAG



LINC Tasmania APA citation: "Richard Phillips, convict transported per Atlas.
Photograph taken at Port Arthur by Thomas Nevin."
Read more about this prisoner here: Prisoner Richard PHILLIPS 1874

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Two mugshots of convict Hugh COHEN or Cowen/Cowan 1878

These two images of Tasmanian prisoner Hugh Cohen (or Cowan/Cowen) differ slightly in details of his scarf arrangement and shirt collar. The two photographs as captures were taken at different sittings only a short time apart by Thomas J. Nevin, although printed in different formats. The negative and carte-de-visite in an oval mount (on left) was taken and printed by Nevin at the Hobart Gaol on the prisoner's arrival from the Supreme Court Launceston in early April 1878, when Cohen's sentence of death by hanging was passed and was still current. The second negative was taken and printed in the oblong format in late April 1878 when Cohen's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. There was scarcely a fortnight separating the two photographic captures (see the newspaper reports below). The cdv was held at the central registry for prison documents at the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, where Nevin was a full-time civil servant, and the oblong framed print was pasted to the prisoner's revised criminal sheet after commutation, held at the Hobart Gaol, per notes appearing on the sheet.



PRISON RECORDS 1878



Overlay of oblong frame on oval cdv frame 1878



Detail of criminal register, page 120, GD6719 TAHO.
Hugh Cowan, aged 62 yrs.



TAHO Records:
Sherriff's Office, Hobart Gaol to 1890
Register GD6719, page 120, Hugh Cowen.



Hugh Cowan/Cohen, listed as John Cowen, aged 62 yrs old, arraigned for murder at the Supreme Court Launceston Tasmania beween 4 and 7 April 1878: sentenced to be hanged.
Source: Police Gazette printed as Tasmania Reports of Crime, Information for Police, Gov't Printer, James Barnard.

The carte-de-visite of Hugh Cowan/Cohen/Cowen is held in the David Scott Mitchell Collection in a collection of nine mounted carte-de-visite portraits and vignettes of Hobart Gaol prisoners taken by T.J. Nevin between 1875 and 1879.

The verso of Cohen's cdv bears a handwritten inscription copied verbatim either from the criminal record sheet or vice versa.

" Hugh Cowen, F. S. Ld Dalhousie, S. Court, Launceston, 4.4.78 Murder -Life"







T. J. Nevin photographs
Prisoners Wallace and Cowen,
SLNSW Mitchell Collection PXB 274
Photos copyright © KLW NFC Imprint 2009-2013 Arr

NEWSPAPER REPORTS

THE DEATH of JOSEPH BARNES
January 2, 1878:



TRANSCRIPT
The Mercury2 January 1878
CAMPBELL TOWN, Tuesday.
On Sunday last, a man named Joseph Barnes was shot dead on the Barton Estate, Macquarie River, by another man named Hugh Cohen. Today an inquest was held on Barnes' remains before Mr Alex Finlay, and a verdict of wilful murder was returned against Cohen who was committed for trial on the coroner's warrant.

INQUEST



At the inquest, Campbell Town
Hugh Cohen tried for murder
Excerpt The Mercury 2 January 1878



Hugh Cohen, judged guilty at inquest
The Mercury 11 January 1878

The whole story, as told by The Launceston Examiner, 5th April 1878

SUPREME COURT CRIMINAL SITTINGS. THURSDAY, April 4.
Before his Honor Sir Francis Smith, Chief Justice.
The Court opened at 11 a.m.
The hon. the Attorney-General,iMr Alfred Dobson, appeared on behalf of the Crown.
WILFUL MURDER.
Hugh Cohen or Cowen, aged 62, was charged with having on thle 30th December last, at Campbell Town, wilfully murdered Joseph Barnes.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty.
The following jury were empannelled : James Lamont (foreman), W. Crabtree, D. Sutherland, W. White, W. Appleby, jun., W. H. Valentine, Thos. Bartlett, G. Coward, W. Atkinson, B. West, J. C. Greig, J. M'Bean. Mr R. B. Miller appeared for the defence.
The Attorney-General briefly stated the circumstances of the case, characterising the deed as one of more than ordinarily premeditated and cold-blooded murder. He then called -
Susan Parkhurst, wife of James Parkhurst, who deposed that she resided on the Barton estate; Joseph Barnes was her step-father; the prisoner lived on the Macquarie River about a mile or mile and a half from their house; on the 29th December prisoner came to her house, and said their bullocks had been in his garden and destroyed it, and he was going to take them away; her husband then came to the door and told prisoner he was very sorry the bullocks had got into his garden; prisoner said he would summons her husband to Campbell Town, and see what he could do with him ; her husband said he must leave them on the run where the garden was, as he wanted to use them in the morning, but he would see what he could do to replace what the bullocks had destroyed; prisoner then went away; on the following day, Dec. 30, prisoner came to their house about 8 a.m. with a gun in his hand; her step father met the prisoner as he was coming up to the door, and said "Good morning, Bluff ;" she went into a backroom where there was a hole in the door through which she looked; prisoner asked if Jim (her husband) was in ; Barnes said he was at Barton ; prisoner said her husband was a daylight robber, the bullocks had destroyed his garden, and robbed him; Barnes said Parkhurst could not help it, for he had no other run to put the bullocks on, and that Mr Fletcher, the manager of the estate, had authorised him to run his bullocks there; prisoner then held up the gun and asked Barnes if he saw it; Barnes said " yes," and prisoner said he would give Parkhurst the contents of it before night ; prisoner then got peaceable and came inside the house; a man named Worthington had been in the kitchen all this time; she then came into the kitchen, and prisoner said "good morning;" he then began stating all he would do to her husband because of the bullocks, and that he would summon Parkhurst ; Barnes said that would be the best thing prisoner could do to stop all rows; prisoner told Barnes to tell Parkhurst to come over to his place at 6 o'clock, and to come himself ; he then went away. Her husband came home shortly afterwards, and she told him what had occurred ; about 10 a.m. prisoner came back; her husband was in the yard ; the yard is not fenced round ; her husband was standing with Barnes near the bullock dray, to which the bullocks were still attached; as prisoner came up Worthington went into the yard from the  kitchen; she was standing at the door ; the prisoner, when about thirty feet from her husband, said "Come here, Jim, I want you". ; her  husband walked over to prisoner, and some conversation ensued between them which she did not hear, but she saw prisoner lift the gun and say "I will blow a hole through you ;" her husband said something and walked back to the bullocks, and drove away with them; Barnes then walked over to prisoner and said - "Now, Paddy, don't you think you ought to be ashamed of yourself, coming where there is a woman with a young family and putting them in bodily fear with fire-arms;" prisoner told him to stand off; Barnes said he would put prisoner and his gun in the river; Barnes had his hands in his pockets at the time ; prisoner again said, "Stand off, or I'll shoot you" and lifted the gun to his shoulder; she screamed and ran back inside the house; she had only taken a couple of steps when she heard the report of the gun, and turned back into the yard; she saw her stepfather falling, and ran and caught hold of him, but the weight of his falling body drew her down on the ground also. At the time prisoner lifted the gun he was not more than six yards distant from Barnes; Worthington had been standing on the woodheap while these matters had been going on; she did not hear him speak to prisoner; her husband came running back on hearing the report, and made at prisoner to get the gun from him; prisoner seized the gun by the barrel and struck at her husband, who stepped back, and the stock struck the ground and split ; Worthington came up with a piece of batten and struck at prisoner. Prisoner had been a neighbor of theirs for nearly four years, and though there had been occasional rows they were on the best of terms. Prisoner was a quiet man when sober ; he was drunk on this day.
Cross-examined by Mr Miller-Prisoner's wife had taken a bottle of brandy from our house on the Sunday morning before 6 o'clock; prisoner's wife had previously asked me to obtain it for her; prisoner was a quiet man when sober, and had never had a quarrel with Barnes; up to the time prisoner threatened to shoot him they had never had an angry word; Barnes was advancing slightly to prisoner at the time ; in spite of the threat Barnes still advanced, and said he would put prisoner and his gun in the river; Barnes was still advancing when prisoner raised the gun. Prisoner had several times during the previous two months complained of the bullocks breaking into his garden, and had about six weeks previously complained of my husband shooting his dog. I and the three men did not attack the prisoner when he came. There was an axe on the place, I believe it was in the bullock-dray.
Samuel Worthington deposed that he was a laborer on the Barton estate, and on the 30th December was staying at the house of James Parkhurst, with whom he was working at the time. He corroborated the statement of the previous witness as to the condition of prisoner when he came to Parkhurst's on the Sunday morning, and the position of the various parties in the yard the second time prisoner came; prisoner asked Parkhurst if he was going to look at his little bit of a garden that Parkhurst's bullocks had upset ; Parkhurst said "No"; Mr Fletcher told me when I unyoked the bullocks to turn them out on the run;" prisoner said, "If you don't come I'll take it out of this," lifting the gun; prisoner then asked Parkhurst to bring Barnes or witness to see what damage the bullocks had done; Parkhurst said " No," and prisoner presented the gun at a him; Parkhurst said he wasn't afraid of prisoner shooting him and, picking up the bullock whip, drove off with the dray; Barnes asked prisoner what he meant by coming there frightening people with a loaded piece ; prisoner said that if Barnes came any nearer he would shoot him too; Barnes said he would throw prisoner and his gun in the river; Barnes was just making a step forward when prisoner shot him dead ; witness seized a piece of batten and rushed towards prisoner who was making a blow at Parkhurst with the butt of the gun, but struck the ground with it; witness struck prisoner wlth the batten, knocking him down; Parkhurst tried to obtain the empty gun from prisoner, and in struggling brought prisoner on his feet, and then wrested the gun from him; prisoner then ran away; witness identified the gun produced as the one prisoner fired; there had been no threatening of prisoner on the part of anyone previously.
Cross-examined by Mr Miller-I have known the prisoner for about four years; he is a quiet and hard working man when sober ; he had never quarrelled with Barnes in his life. I believe if Barnes had not interfered after Parkhurst went away with the dray, the prisoner would have gone away quietly.
The witness was examined at some length by his Honor as to the manner in which Barnes stepped when he said he would throw prisoner in the river, whether in a quiet or threatening manner. The witness said that Barnes still had his hands in his pockets, and had just lifted his foot to step forward quietly, when the prisoner shot him, and as he fell his hands were still in his pockets. Witness imagined from the expression Barnes used that if he had not been shot he would have tried to throw prisoner in the river; the river was only some 30 or 40 yards distant.
James Parkhurst deposed that he was a labourer, living on the Barton Estate; he knew the prisoner as living close by him for four years or more; he had al ways been on very good terms with the prisoner until last Christmas twelve month, when the prisoner came to his place with two guns, and had a few words with his wife; the prisoner complained about the 30th of December that witness had shot his dog, or was cognisant of the fact; witness knew nothing whatever about the dog; prisoner came to him on the Saturday previous to the 30th of December, and asked him to come down to his ground and see what damage the bullocks had done; he went down very early the next morning but prisoner and his wife were asleep; he did not speak to them then ; he had made preparations on the morning of the murder to go away to his work; just as he had got the bullocks yoked and ready to start, he saw prisoner coming up the track towards his place with a gun in his hand; he went forward to meet him'; prisoner said "What's the reason you robbed me, Jim ?" he said "In what shape?" prisoner answered, "By turning your bullocks into my garden;"; he said" That is false"; with that the prisoner flew in a passion and levelled the gun at him; he said, that prisoner was frightened to fire; prisoner stepped back and levelled the gun at witness a second time; he turned round to walk away when his wife sung out, "He is shooting you" ; he turned round and saw prisoner with the gun levelled again; prisoner then lowered the gun and came towards him, who said,. "Keep away until you are sober." Witness then walked away. When he got to the corner of his garden he heard Barnes say, "Paddy, you ought.to be ashamed of yourself coming here with a loaded piece, where there is a family of young children, putting them in bodily fear" ; witness then turned round and saw Barnes take two or three steps in the direction of prisoner, who said, "Stand off, or I"ll blow a hole through you"; with that he pulled the trigger and the gun went off...

Etc etc - the reporter's account was very very long, running over several columns and pages in the Launceston Examiner - with the Judge considering all possible verdicts: murder, homicide, manslaughter, acquittal by reason of insanity - but the jury returned after only twelve minutes' deliberation, with a verdict of "wilful murder". The report ended with this paragraph:

The jury retired at 5.45 p.m. and twelve minutes afterwards returned into Court with a verdict of wilful murder against the prisoner. In answer to the usual question the prisoner said if the Judge was content he was satisfied, but he hoped his Lordship would have mercy upon him. His Honor said there was but one sentence allowed by law, that of death. The prisoner had after a patient trial been found guilty of wilful murder and that sentence imposed upon him the duty of passing sentence of death upon the prisoner. Whether that sentence would be carried out in the extreme limit rested with the Executive Council. He knew no reason why it should not be carried out, and he therefore advised the prisoner not to buoy himself up with any false hopes, but to seek the consolations of a minister of whatever religion he belonged to. The sentence he now pronounced was that the prisoner be taken from the place he stood in to the place whence he came, and from thence to a place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck till he was dead, and may God have mercy on his soul.

Read the full account in the Trove NLA digitised version
Cite: SUPREME COURT CRIMINAL SITTINGS. (1878, April 5). Launceston Examiner (Tas. : 1842 - 1899), p. 2. Retrieved September 11, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4778485



TRANSCRIPT
The Mercury April 8th, 1878
SUPREME COURT, LAUNCESTON.
[From our Own Correspondent]
THURSDAY, APRIL 4.
Before His Honor, the Chief Justice.

The additional witnesses in the charge of wilful murder against Hugh Cohen or Cowen, the result of which you have already received by telegram, were James Parkhurst, Melmoth Fletcher, jun., Con- stable Thompson, Sub-Inspector Palmer, and Dr. James Lever. No witnesses were called for the defence, but prisoner's counsel, Mr R. B. Miller, made a long and interesting speech, in which he endeavoured to induce the jury to mitigate their verdict to one of manslaughter only, on the grounds that the prisoner was under the influence of liquor at the time, that owing to an old injury on the head his mental faculties were impaired, and that under the influence of these two things, and the provocation he received from Barnes, the prisoner pulled the trigger in a state of over excitement and fear, and really believed he was acting in self-defence. His Honor summed up very calmly and lucidly, and the jury after an absence of only twelve minutes returned a verdict of guilty of wilful murder. The Judge then passed sentence of death in the usual form holding out no hope of leniency from the Executive, and advising the prisoner not to buoy himself up with false hopes.
The prisoner, who had been very self-possessed during the trial, nodding to various acquaintances in Court, seemed stupefied when the sentence was pronounced.

COMMUTATION



TRANSCRIPT
The Launceston Examiner, 16 April 1878
HOBART TOWN, April 15
The sentence of death passed upon Hugh Cowan, or Cohen, for the murder of Joseph Barnes has been commuted by the Executive to imprisonment for life.

TRANSPORTATION RECORDS 1852
Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office:

Transported for 7 years as Hugh Cowen, 34 yrs old. A hawker by trade, he was convicted in 1848 at Mayo for uttering base coin, arriving in Hobart in August 1852. His wife and family arrived in 1854 and he was granted a Certificate of Freedom in 1856. Convicted and imprisoned for life at the Hobart Gaol in 1878.

Cowen, Hugh
Convict No: 15411
Extra Identifier:
SEE Surname:
SEE Given Names:
Voyage Ship: Lord Dalhousie
Voyage No: 353
Arrival Date: 14 Aug 1852
Departure Date: 13 Apr 1852
Departure Port: Cork
Conduct Record: CON33/1/109
Muster Roll:
Appropriation List:
Other Records:
Indent: CON14/1/45
Description List: CON18/1/57
Remarks: Application to bring out family GO33/1/80 p983



Conduct Record: CON33/1/109 detail



Conduct Record: CON33/1/109



Description List: CON18/1/57



Indent: CON14/1/45
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"Lines on the much lamented death of Rebecca Jane Nevin" by John Nevin 1866

TASMANIAN POETRY 1860s-1800s
JOHN NEVIN snr (1808-1887)
DEATH of daughter Rebecca Jane NEVIN (1847-1865)



John Nevin (1808-1887)
Photo taken by his son Thomas Nevin ca. 1874
Copyright © The Shelverton Collection 2005-2009 Arr.

Thomas Nevin's father, John Nevin snr (1808-1887) was an accomplished poet. Three poems (to date) have been located in Australian libraries, and one published in the press. Although he died peacefully in his garden overlooking the Lady Franklin Museum at Kangaroo Valley, Hobart in 1887, he had already suffered the loss of both daughters - Rebecca Jane in 1865, and Mary Ann in 1879 - as well as his wife, their mother Mary Nevin (1810-1875). He married again in 1879, and died mercifully four years before the death from typhoid fever of his youngest child, Constable John (William John aka Jack) Nevin (1851-1891). The last remaining child, his eldest and first-born son, photographer Thomas J. Nevin (1842-1923), survived them all by decades.



State Library of Tasmania
TAHO Ref: NS434/1/155
John Nevin senior (1808-1887), photographed in 1879, aged 71 years, on the occasion of his marriage to his second wife, Martha Genge (aged 46 yrs).
Photo © KLW NFC 2012

Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865)
A few photographs by Thomas Nevin of his parents and siblings Mary Ann Nevin and Jack (William John) Nevin have survived and are held in family collections, but no information about the second sister Rebecca Jane Nevin was found until recently. It is just possible, even likely in retrospect, that this photograph (below) which surfaced at an auction in 2019 of a small collection taken by Thomas Nevin of family and clients and thought to be a photograph of his sister Mary Ann, is actually a photograph of his sister Rebecca Jane, taken just months before her death in 1865. If indeed it is Rebecca Jane, she appears to be frail and already at the advanced stages of an unnamed disease which would claim her life before the year's end when she posed for her brother. In her father's poem written on her death (below), he spoke of her as fragile, whereas her older sister Mary Ann, photographed by their brother Thomas a few years later, appears to be a strong and healthy young woman.




Subject: Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865) ca. 18 years old
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin, her older brother
Location and date: Thomas Nevin's New Town studio, ca. 1865
Details: verso is blank, companion photo to another early photograph of younger brother Jack Nevin from same collection.
Provenance: Sydney Rare Books Auctions 2019. Private collection.

The death of their sister on November 10th, 1865, was a terrible blow to this pioneer family. None could have paid a better tribute than her father in this exquisite poem, written and printed just six weeks after her death.




LINES
On the much lamented Death of
R E B E C C A   J A N E   N E V I N 
Who died at the Wesleyan Chapel, Kangaroo Valley,
On the 10th NOVEMBER, 1865, in the 19th year of her age.

WRITTEN BY HER FATHER

In early childhood's joyous hour,
We brought her from her native soil,
To seek some calm and peaceful bower
Far on Tasmania's sea-girt Isle;
While yet a gentle, fragile thing,
Her infant steps were tottering.

Here, by a mountain streamlet's side,
Its soothing murmurs lov'd to hear,
Or watch its limpid waters glide,
And cull the flow'rs were blooming near;
And tho' her life was mark'd with pain,
Was seldom heard for to complain.

Death early chose her for his prey,
For slow disease with stealthy tread,
Had swept the hues of health away,
And left a sallow cheek instead;
Like some young flow'ret, sickly pale , -
She droop'd and wither'd in the vale.

Full eighteen summer suns have shed,
Refulgent beams on that pale brow,
Ere she was number'd with the dead;
Beyond the reach of anguish now.
The wint'ry blast of death has come,
To lay her in the dark lone tomb.

Cut off in girlhood's hopeful morn,
She pass'd without a murm'ring sigh,
From friends and weeping parents torn,
To higher, fairer worlds on high.
She's gone to join the blood-wash'd throng,
And mingle with the seraphs' song.

The struggle's o'er - loved shade adieu! -
No more shall grief or pain molest;
The wint'ry storms may howl o'er you,
But cannot break thy dreamless rest:
Pluck'd like a rose from parent stem,
To deck a royal diadem.

Her life was guileless as a child,
Nor pride, nor passion ever knew;
A book, a flower - her hour beguiled,
Nor breath'd a heart more kind or true;
No longer kneels with us in prayer: -
Now I behold her vacant chair!

That head in pain shall throb no more,
Nor weary night of restless sleep;
The Jordan pass'd, thy journey's o'er,
And thou shalt never wake to weep;
When the last trumpet loud will sound,
Thou'lt rise triumphant from the ground!

JOHN NEVIN.
Kangaroo Valley,
27th January, 1866.

This is the envelope in which the poem is housed at the University of Melbourne Library, Special Collections. The hand-writing may well be John Nevin's.



CITATIONS
http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/29496131
http://nla.gov.au/anbd.bib-an10001707

The poem is held at the University of Melbourne Library, Special Collections. The original catalogue entry showed an error with regard to the location: i.e. Kangaroo Valley NSW, to be corrected to Kangaroo Valley, Hobart Tasmania (renamed Lenah Valley in 1922), notified 18 July 2013. Assistance from Special Collections gratefully acknowledged.

Contributed by Libraries Australia
Title Lines on the much lamented death of Rebecca Jane Nevin : who died at the Wesleyan chapel, Kangaroo Valley, on the 10th November, 1865, in the 19th year of her age /​ John Nevin.
Author Nevin, John, 19th cent.
Published Kangaroo Valley [N.S.W.] : [s.n.], 1866.
Physical Description 1 sheet ; 29 x 12 cm.
Language English
Dewey Number A821.1
Libraries Australia ID 10001707

APA citation
Nevin, John (1866). Lines on the much lamented death of Rebecca Jane Nevin : who died at the Wesleyan chapel, Kangaroo Valley, on the 10th November, 1865, in the 19th year of her age. [s.n.], Kangaroo Valley [N.S.W.]- (to be amended to Kangaroo Valley, Tasmania.)

Two more poems by John Nevin snr (1808-1887)



"My Cottage in the Wilderness" by John Nevin, 1868. 
Mitchell Library NSW
Photo © KLW NFC 2009



State Library of Tasmania, Ref: P820A NEV.
Title: “Lines written on the sudden and much lamented death of Mr William Genge who died at the Wesleyan Chapel, Melville-street, Hobart on the morning of 17th January 1881, in the 73rd year of his age” by John Nevin, Kangaroo Valley, January 31st, 1881.

Family portraits by Thomas J. Nevin 



Mary Nevin, mother of Thomas Nevin and siblings, taken early 1870s
Copyright © KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collections 2007



Mary Ann Nevin (1844-1878), sister of Thomas J. Nevin,
dipping a glass at New Town rivulet, Kangaroo Valley Hobart Tasmania, ca. 1870.
Salt paper stereograph taken by Thomas J. Nevin ca. 1870
Photo copyright © KLW NFC Imprint  Private Collection 2012



Family portraits taken by Thomas J. Nevin of himself and three of his wife Elizabeth Rachel Day (top row);
his brother William John aka Jack Nevin, himself, his sister Mary Ann Nevin, and himself again (bottom row).
Copyright ⓒ KLW NFC Imprint & Private Collection 2007



The cottage that John Nevin built at Kangaroo Valley
“T. J. Nevin Photo” inscribed on verso, ca. 1868.
Courtesy of © The Liam Peters Collection 2010.

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Prisoner mugshots by Constable John Nevin to 1890

Constable William John Nevin (1851-1891), younger brother of professional photographer Thomas J. Nevin, died suddenly of typhoid fever on 17th June, 1891. The earliest date on record of his service with the police is 1875 when he was stationed at the Cascades Prison for Males, Hobart. His service continued at the Hobart Gaol, Campbell Street, as "Gaol Messenger", a rank which covered his duties as photographer, until his untimely death while still in service, aged 39 yrs old. The registrar of his death gave his age as 43 yrs old; however, his burial records at Cornelian Bay Cemetery on 19th June 1891 listed his death at 39 yrs, i.e. born 1851, and this date is consistent with the Fairlie sick lists shipping records which recorded that he was a babe in arms, less than 9 months old, when he arrived in Hobart on 3rd July 1852 with his settler parents, John and Mary Nevin, and his three older siblings Thomas, Rebecca Jane, and Mary Ann.



Constable John (W. J.) Nevin ca. 1880.
Photo taken by his brother Thomas Nevin
Copyright © KLW NFC & The Nevin Family Collections 2009 ARR. Watermarked.



The Electoral Roll of the Electoral District of North Hobart, year commencing 11th April, 1884:
NEVIN, William John
Place of Abode: H.M. Gaol
Nature of qualification: Salary
Particulars of Qualification: H.M. Government



Archives Office Tasmania
RGD 35/13
Death of John Nevin, Goal Messenger, of Typhoid Fever
17th June 1891

PRISONER IDENTIFICATION PHOTOGRAPHS from 1876-1891
Older brother, commercial photographer Thomas J. Nevin was commissioned by the family solicitor W.R. Giblin, later Attorney-General and Premier from 1872 to 1876 to provide the colonial government of Tasmania with photographs of prisoners while he was still operating from his commercial studios in Elizabeth St and New Town, Hobart. And from 1876 to 1880, when employed in full-time civil service as Office and Hall keeper of the Hobart Town Hall, his photographic services for police continued at the Hobart Gaol with the Municipal Police Office and at the Mayor's Court, housed within the Town Hall. Thomas Nevin was assisted by his younger brother Constable John Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in producing photographic records of prisoners until ca. 1886, his last record (to date) of service to police as assistant bailiff.

During the early to mid-1870s, Thomas Nevin deployed the conventional techniques of 19th century commercial studio portraiture in matters of posing, photographing and printing the final official prisoner identification photograph (mugshot) as mounted carte-de-visite portraits. The prisoner was usually posed with his upper torso turned 45 degrees from the photographer, with sightlines deflected to the edge of the oval mount, and backgrounded by a plain backcloth. The majority of Nevin’s prisoner photographs taken between 1872-75 evince his use of this commercial technique, for example:



State Library of NSW
James Ogden, photographed by T.J. Nevin 23 September 1875
Call Number DL PX 158



National Library of Australia
John F. Morris, photographed by T.J. Nevin 25th April 1875
nla.pic-an24612762 PIC P1029/36 LOC Album 935

THE FULL FRONTAL GAZE
Most prisoner photographs taken in the 1880s in Tasmania required the subject to face the camera, and in some instances, show the backs of the hands clearly. The full frontal gaze marked the transitional phase between Thomas Nevin's early to mid-1870s commercial mounted carte-de-visite portraits and the 1880s prisoner photographs, taken more often than not at the Hobart Gaol by his brother John Nevin.  No full profile photographs, in addition to the single full frontal shot, were taken until the late 1890s when the methods of Bertillon took hold.



Roland Hill, 23 yrs old, 20th February 1890.
Ref: TAHO GD 6719, p. 148. Gaol Register from the Sheriff's Office Hobart.

Remarkably, this prisoner identification photograph dated 1890 was printed in the commercial oval mount format, its sole difference from the earlier prisoner portraits taken by Thomas Nevin being the full frontal gaze of the prisoner. This photograph is not an old one, reprinted from an earlier photograph of the 1870s. It was taken of Roland Hill, 23 years old, a clerk and a first offender, sentenced to two years for larceny, and taken on incarceration at the Hobart Gaol by Constable John Nevin when Roland was transferred from Launceston.



Roland Hill, 23 yrs old, 20th February 1890.
Ref: TAHO GD 6719, detail mugshot from criminal sheet p. 148

OVERLAY PRINTS
Many of the photographs in this register GD 6719 dating to 1890 were reprinted from an earlier photograph of the prisoner, some quite visibly showing the original oval mount under the second printing within an oblong mount with rounded corners.



This photograph of Charles Dawson was taken by Constable John Nevin on 11 December 1888 at the Hobart Gaol adjacent to the Supreme Court where Dawson was sentenced to 4 years for uttering a forged cheque. The print from the negative was framed initially in an oval mount , and reprinted within an oblong mount, as an overlay, for reasons best known to the printers, whether at the gaol itself in Campbell Street or at the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall in Macquarie Street, or even at the government printing office and registrar in Davey Street. The duties of Constable John Nevin by 1888 was both photographer and gaol messenger. He would have conveyed copies of these prisoner photographs and criminal record sheets back and forth to any of these three authorities.



Charles Dawson, 33 yrs old, 11 December 1888.
Ref: TAHO GD 6719, detail mugshot printed with oblong overlay p. 101

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