Please note: Below each image is the National Library of Australia's catalogue batch edit which gives the false impression that all these "convict portraits" were taken because these men were transported convicts per se (i.e before cessation in 1853), and that they might have been photographed as a one-off amateur portfolio by a prison official at the Port Arthur prison in 1874, which they were not. Any reference to the Port Arthur prison official A. H. Boyd on catalogue records is an error, a PARASITIC ATTRIBUTION with no basis in fact. The men in these images were photographed in the 1870s-1880s because they were repeatedly sentenced as habitual offenders whose mugshots were taken on arrest, arraignment, incarceration and/or discharge by police and prisons photographer T. J. Nevin at the Supreme Court, the Hobart Gaol (with Jack Nevin), and the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall. The earliest date from 1872.

The police records are sourced from the date of publication in the weekly police gazettes of the day, published as Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, James Barnard Government Printer. One vignette printed from Nevin's glass negative was attached to the criminals' records held at the Gaol, duplicates were circulated to regional police and further duplicates were held at the Town Hall Police Office central registry for display on the walls and as supplements to the police gazette. Many of these cartes were divorced from the police records and their contemporaneous references were lost when they were reprinted decades later in the 1900s by Beattie Studios for sale as tourist tokens. Further dislocation and copying occurred in the 1980s when Beattie's collection was circulated piecemeal from the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston to other national and state institutions such as the NLA, the TMAG and the AOT. A dozen originals by Nevin at the Mitchell Library NSW are unaffected and are unique to that collection.

Click on police records for readable version.

Paul, Samuel

This prisoner's identification photograph has not yet been digitised by the National Library of Australia. It was taken by Thomas J. Nevin at the Hobart Gaol on the prisoner's release, 20 March 1878. The original photograph by Nevin was reproduced by J. W. Beattie in the early 1900s, and its verso transcription added at some time later by archivists, hence the error in time and date of photographic capture.

NLA Catalogue Notes
Title
Samuel Paul, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture].
Date
1874.
Extent
1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.3 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.4cm.
Context
Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Series

Title from inscription on verso.

Inscription: "65 ; Samuel Paul, native, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"--In ink on verso.

Condition: Some foxing.

Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4727969

POLICE RECORDS



Samuel Paul was sentenced to one month for gambling 1 April 1868



Samuel Paul was convicted of rape and sentenced to death 14 September 1869



Samuel Paul was discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 20 March 1878, sentence remitted and photographed by T.J. Nevin on release.

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Rosetta, Charles



National Library of Australia Catalogue
Part of the collection of photographs compiled by Australian photographer E. W. Searle while working for J. W. Beattie in Hobart during 1911-1915.
On the photograph held, the image including the name of the subject appears in reverse."Official Prison Photographs from Port Arthur" and "Types of Convicts"--Inscription on page of album, below photograph.
Subject Rosetta, Charles.

The NLA has attributed this image to the copyists Searle and Beattie, ca. 1915. Charles Rosetta was photographed by Thomas Nevin at the Hobart Town Hall Police Office on December 6, 1876, on Rosetta's discharge. Glass negative printed.

POLICE RECORD



Charles Rosetta was received from Port Arthur on 6th December 1876 and photographed by T.J. Nevin on discharge from the Police Office, Hobart Town Hall.

A copy of the 1876 carte by Nevin is held at the Archives Office of Tasmania:



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Lee, William



National Library of Australia Catalogue
Part of the collection of photographs compiled by Australian photographer E. W. Searle while working for J. W. Beattie in Hobart during 1911-1915.
On the photograph held, the image including the name of the subject appears in reverse."Official Prison Photographs from Port Arthur" and "Types of Convicts"--Inscription on page of album, below photograph.
Subject Lee, William.

The NLA has attributed this image to the copyists Searle and Beattie, ca. 1915. William Lee was photographed by Thomas Nevin on discharge , 12th September 1874.

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Hayes, William 2

NOT DIGITISED BY NLA

See also this vignette here of William Hayes held in the NLA Collection, viz:,



nla.pic-vn4416519 PIC P1029/75A LOC Album 935 William Hayes, per Asia, taken at Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]. 1874. 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm. Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]

POLICE RECORDS



William Hayes (per Asiatic) photographed by Nevin on discharge, 22 September 1875


- and this entry at Thomas Nevin's weblog.


NLA Catalogue
Title
William Hayes, per Asia, taken at Port Arthur, 1874, 2 [picture].
Date 1874.
Extent 1 photograph on carte-de-visite mount : albumen ; 9.4 x 5.6 cm. on mount 10.5 x 6.3 cm.
Context
Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Series Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.

Title from inscription on verso.

Inscription: "98 ; William Hayes, per Asia, taken at Port Arthur, 1874"--In ink on verso.

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Cavanagh, Henry



NLA Catalogue full record (as at April 17, 2009)

Henry Cavanagh at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874 [picture]
Title
Henry Cavanagh at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874 [picture]
Date 1874.
Extent 1 albumen print : sepia toned; 10.5 x 6.5 cm.
Context Part of Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874 [picture]
Series * Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Biography Henry Cavanagh was a convict at Port Arthur, Tasmania, 1874.
Notes Condition: Fair, some foxing.
Title devised by cataloguer.
"306 Henry Cavanagh Native Taken at Port Arthur 1874."--In ink on verso.
Convicts confidential Gunson collection.
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
NLA neg. 1998.
Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn3660505
Subject
* Cavanagh, Henry -- Portraits.
* Convicts -- Tasmania -- Port Arthur -- Portraits.
Occupation
* Prisoners.
Identifier
nla.pic-vn3660505
Bib id
vn3660505
Call number(s)
* P1029/76 LOC Album 935 *

Henry Cavanagh was not sent to Port Arthur, as the NLA Catalogue notes claim. His name does not appear in the House of Assembly Journals, Nominal Return of Prisoners sent to Port Arthur since its transfer to Colonial Government in 1871, tabled in Parliament on 11th June, 1873. He was discharged before that date, on the 14th June 1872 after sentencing of one month in Hobart, and arraigned in Launceston nine months later, on the 3rd September 1873. He was received at the Hobart Gaol, sentenced to 6 years, and photographed there on 17th September 1873 by Nevin.

The numbering on the verso of this carte, according to the NLA notes is "306". This is an archivist's number which could date from ca 1916 sourced from Beattie's Museum, or from the 1960s with the Gunson Collection acquisition by the NLA, or from the 1930s when the QVMAG acquired Beattie's Collection, or from the 1980s when the QVMAG copied and distributed more than 70 cartes to the NLA, AOT, TMAG etc.

POLICE RECORDS



Cavanagh discharged 14 June 1872




Henry Cavanagh, aged 19 yrs, arraigned 3 September 1873 and sentenced to 6 years for stealing a posted letter. He was admitted to the Hobart Gaol (Campbell St Gaol) and photographed by Nevin on 17th September 1873.

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