The Glass Negative
Excessive damage to the original glass plate is evident in this print taken from the negative of Nevin's only sitting with prisoner Peter Killeen in the week preceding the 20th January, 1875, when Killeen was discharged from the Hobart Gaol. He was given a life sentence for assault and robbery in 1856, and when discharged in 1875 with a ticket-of-leave, he was 64 yrs old. He subsequently re-offended, was sentenced to a further 6 weeks and discharged again on 29 September 1875. Peter Killeen offended again within six months of discharge. He was given a sentence of seven (7) years for larceny at the Supreme Court Hobart on 8th March, 1876, sent to the Port Arthur prison, arriving there on 6th April, 1876, and transferred back to the Hobart Gaol on 17th April, 1877. Peter Killeen died from senile decay, aged 76 yrs, as a Prisoner of the Crown at the Hobart Gaol on 27th June, 1889. See originals of these records below.
The only image, whether extant as copies of the carte-de-visite or a duplicate negative print surviving from Peter Killeen's criminal sentences is the one taken by Thomas J. Nevin at his single sitting with the prisoner in January 1875. The scratched condition of the glass plate by the time of Killeen's death in 1889 at the Hobart Gaol is evidence of repeated use, the print showing even more wear and tear than the other 39 prints used by Beattie for the line-up of 40 on his three panels created in 1915.
Mugshot of prisoner Peter Killeen
Print from the original glass plate negative taken by T. J. Nevin 1870s
Offered for sale by J. W. Beattie ca. 1916
QVMAG Collection: Ref : 1983_p_0163-0176
This is a print from Thomas Nevin's glass negative of the photograph taken of Killeen at the one and only sitting in 1875, reproduced as cdv's at least twice over Peter Killeen's long criminal career.
The black and white print from an earlier reproduction in the 1900s of Nevin's original negative was reproduced at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in 1985 where it is held. The original negative was salvaged, probably by government photographer and collector of convictaria, John Watt Beattie with his assistant Edward Searle, from at least two sources in the 1910s: the Sheriff's Office at the Hobart Gaol, and the Mayor's Court at the Hobart Town Hall where Thomas Nevin was Office Keeper and photographer of repeat offenders discharged with various conditions.
The print from the glass negative bears the number "321", visible when the image is flipped. The negative numbered "321" was a sequence used when Beattie reproduced the half plate in the 1910s, purely for exhibitions and sale to visitors to his Port Arthur Museum located at 51 Murray Street, Hobart. The same archivists also transcribed the versos of the cdv's with a generic date, 1874, and Port Arthur as the generic prison, purely to engage the attention of museum visitors. In many, many instances, the prisoner was not photographed in 1874, nor was he sent to Port Arthur, and even if his sentence for further offences in the 1870s was to be served again at Port Arthur if a former transported convict, he was photographed at the Supreme Court and Hobart Gaol on sentencing prior to returning there, awaiting trial, photographed by Thomas Nevin in Hobart, assisted by his brother Constable John Nevin.
T. J. Nevin's negative, 1875, of Peter Killeen, original and mirror with "321" visible.
Reproduced at the QVMAG . Ref: 1985_P_0174
The carte-de-visite
Thomas Nevin printed Killeen's photograph as a carte-de-visite in an oval mount when Killeen was discharged with a ticket-of-leave from Hobart in January 1875. Nevin produced four to six copies from his negative, one of which was pasted to the prisoner's criminal record - his rap sheet - a blue form used by the Hobart Gaol. Others were kept loose to accompany police registers held at the central Municipal Police Office at the Hobart Town Hall, maintained by Nevin to furnish details for the weekly publication of the police gazettes. Others were circulated to regional police offices where the prisoner was assigned to work.
This carte-de-visite of Killeen is held at the National Library of Australia. It was donated from government estrays bearing the number "221" on the front under the image which was applied in sequence when an inventory of these mugshots was taken at the QVMAG in the 1980s. An earlier copy of the one and only capture taken by Thomas Nevin in 1875 of Peter Killeen was numbered "180". It remains at the QVMAG, acquired through Beattie's estate on his death in 1930; the cdv numbered "221" was acquired by the National Library of Australia from donations by Dr Neil Gunson.
NLA Catalogue (incorrect information)
Peter Killern [sic], per M.A. Watson, taken at Port Arthur, 1874
Part of collection: Convict portraits, Port Arthur, 1874.
Gunson Collection file 203/7/54.
Title from inscription on reverse.
Inscription: title and "221"--In ink on reverse.
Condition: Slight discolouration lower right.
Also available in an electronic version via the Internet at: http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4270051.
Exhibited: "Treasures Gallery", National Library of Australia, 12 December 2012 - 7 July 2013
The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery copy, reprinted in black and white in 1985, shows the verso number "221" written in the 1900s, although the original plate was scratched with the number "321", and the number "180" on recto written in the 1980s during the QVMAG inventory of Beattie's collection.
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Mugshot of Tasmanian prisoner Peter Killeen 1875
Black and white copy placed online at the QVMAG 2000s
Photographer: Thomas J. Nevin, Hobart Gaol, 1875
QVMAG ref: Q1985:P:108
See also the Archives Office of Tasmania for Killeen, not Killern (on the verso of the NLA copy). More than one copy of the same image taken by Thomas J. Nevin in 1875 was printed from his negative as a cdv, and each was numbered differently by archivists in the name of tourism: in the 1900s by Beattie for sale at his Port Arthur Museum located in Hobart, and again in 1983 when an inventory was taken of Beattie's collection of 200 Tasmanian prisoner cdv's originally acquired from his estate by the QVMAG but subsequently dispersed to national and state public institutions.
POLICE RECORDS
Peter Killeen was given a life sentence for assault and robbery in 1856, discharged from the Hobart Gaol in January 1875. He was 64 yrs old.
Released with a Ticket-of-leave on 29th January 1875, Killeen was photographed on discharge by Thomas Nevin at the Municipal Police Office, Town Hall, Hobart. However, Killeen reoffended, was sentenced to a further 6 weeks and discharged again on 29 September 1875.
Peter Killeen was discharged on 20th September, 1875, from the Hobart Gaol. He offended again within six months of discharge and given a sentence of 7 years for larceny at the Supreme Court Hobart on 8th March, 1876. He was sent to the Port Arthur prison, arriving there on 6th April, 1876, and transferred back to the Hobart Gaol on 17th April, 1877. The only image, whether extant as copies of the carte-de-visite or duplicate of the negative print surviving from his criminal sentences is the one and only photograph taken by Thomas Nevin at his sitting with the prisoner in January 1875.
Prisoner Peter Killeen, arrived at Port Arthur on 6th April, 1876
Transferred back to the Hobart Gaol on 17th April, 1877.
Port Arthur Conduct records
TAHO Ref: CON94-1-2_00121_S
Peter Killeen died from senile decay, aged 76 yrs, as a Prisoner of the Crown at the Hobart Gaol on 27th June, 1889:
TAHO Records
Name: Killeen, Peter
Record Type: Deaths
Gender :Male
Age:76
Date of death:27 Jun 1889
Registered: Hobart
Registration year:1889
Document ID:
NAME_INDEXES:1234987
ResourceRGD35/1/12 no 623
