Prisoner John DORAN

Just one mugshot of habitual offender John Doran per the convict transport Asiatic is extant, and in very poor condition. It is held at the National Library of Australia, taken by Thomas Nevin at the Hobart Gaol in the last week of December 1875 prior to John Doran's discharge on 5th January 1876. John Doran is not to be confused with another prisoner with the name of Albert or Alfred Doran per Blenheim who was also active during these years. His prisoner identification photograph taken by Nevin is extant in public collections in various formats (QVMAG).



NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
nla.pic-vn4269863 PIC P1029/8
LOC Album 935 John Doran, per Asiatic, 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.

Police Records for John Doran

1870



Prisoner John Doran alias Charles Knight per Asiatic was convicted in the Recorder's Court, Launceston, on 29 December 1870, transferred to the Hobart Gaol, where he served consecutive sentences totalling six years. He would have been photographed more than once because of his lengthy sentences, numerous convictions and discharges from both the Hobart Gaol and the Invalid Depots. He also used aliases so there are records missing from the list below.

1876



John Doran, aged 48 yrs, discharged from the Hobart Gaol on 5 January 1876. The extant photograph was taken by Thomas J. Nevin in the fortnight prior to John Doran's discharge.


John Doran was discharged from the Cascades Prison for Males on 31 March 1876

1877



John Doran, sentenced to twelve months for indecency, discharged on  14 February 1877.



John Doran sentenced to 7 days for inciting to resist the police, discharged on  14 March 1877



John Doran was arrested on 20th November 1877

1878



John Doran was convicted for larceny on 13 July 1878

1879



John Doran was discharged from the Cascades between 7 -11 May 1879: he had absconded in government clothes while under detention.



John Doran was discharged on 9 May 1879



John Doran was arrested on 6 June 1879, convicted of larceny for the theft of property belonging to Edward Slide.



John Doran, suspicion attached to - 6 June 1879



John Doran, description adjoined to notice above,  6 June 1879



John Doran was convicted on 16 August 1879, sentenced to three months



John Doran was discharged on 19 November 1879



John Doran was 50 years old by 20 December 1879 when he was convicted of larceny, sentenced to 18 months.

etc etc - 1885



John Doran, now 58 yrs old,  was arraigned at the Supreme Court Hobart on 19 May 1885
Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police James Barnard Gov't Printer
First published on
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Australia's FIRST MUGSHOTS

PLEASE NOTE: Below each image held at the National Library of Australia is their catalogue batch edit which gives the false impression that all these "convict portraits" were taken solely 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 the NLA 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, trial, arraignment, incarceration and/or discharge by government contractor, police and prisons photographer T. J. Nevin at the Supreme Court and adjoining Hobart Gaol with his brother Constable John Nevin, and at the Municipal Police Office, Hobart Town Hall when appearing at The Mayor's Court. The Nevin brothers produced over a thousand originals and duplicates of Tasmanian prisoners, the bulk now lost or destroyed. The three hundred extant mugshots were the random estrays salvaged - and reproduced in many instances- for sale at Beattie's local convictaria museum in Hobart and at interstate exhibitions associated with the fake convict ship Success in the early 1900s. The mugshots were selected on the basis of the prisoner's notoriety from the Supreme Court trial registers (Rough Calendar), the Habitual Criminals Registers (Gaol Photo Books), warrant forms, and police gazettes records of the 1870s-1880s. The earliest taken on government contract by T. J. Nevin date from 1872. The police records sourced here are from the weekly police gazettes which were called (until 1884) Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police 1871-1885. J. Barnard, Gov't Printer.