January 18th, 1868.

On the day fixed for his departure from Tasmania, 18th January 1868, H.R.H Prince Alfred was presented with an album of photographs.The album contained “eighty three photographs illustrative of the scenery of Tasmania, forty eight portraits of children born in the colony, and nine plates immediately connected with the Prince’s visit” according to the report of the visit written by John George Knight (transcript and link below).

Among the 48 photographic portraits of Tasmanian children in the album was this portrait by Thomas Nevin and his partner Robert Smith:

STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA
[Studio portrait of two children] Nevin & Smith.
Digital image(s):
Creator: Nevin & Smith, photographer.
Title: [Studio portrait of two children] [picture] / Nevin & Smith.
Access/Copyright: Reproduction rights: State Library of Victoria
Accession number(s):H2005.34/2004 H2005.34/2004A
Date(s) of creation: [ca. 1867-ca. 1875]
Medium: 1 photographic print on carte de visite mount : albumen silver, hand col. ;
Dimensions: 11 x 7 cm.
Collection: John Etkins collection.
Photographer printed on verso: From / Nevin & Smith / late Bock’s / 140 Elizabeth Street / Hobart Town.
Source/Donor: Gift of Mr John Etkins; 2005.

The photograph bears a rare studio stamp by Nevin & Smith on the verso which features the royal insignia of three feathers and a coronet, banded with the German “ICH DIEN” (I serve). This variation of the Nevin & Smith stamp has never before surfaced in either private or public collections. The wording “From NEVIN & SMITH” clearly indicates it was intended to be to pre-SENT-ed to its royal recipient.

According to Jack Cato in The Story of the Camera in Australia (1977 ed. p.58), a group of Tasmanian photographers was invited to contribute. Cato says:

“All the cities presented the Duke with official albums of photographs, and many photographers presented private ones. Henry Johnstone gave him a book of pictures of the beautiful women of Victoria. Charles Nettleton gave a book of prints of Melbourne and the countryside. But best of all was the one given by the photographers of Tasmania – a collection of prints showing the beautiful children of the island. The Duke was so charmed with it that he requested a duplicate album be made and sent to his mother.”

Where is this album? Four photographers were commissioned by the colonial government of Tasmania to document the Duke’s visit, notably Samuel Clifford and George Cherry, and possibly Cato is referring to this group, but the 48 children’s portraits as a collection per se taken by Tasmanian photographers to commemorate the event as a Royal gift has yet to come to light.

Thomas Nevin set up the firm Nevin & Smith ca. 1865 at the City Photographic Establishment, 140 Elizabeth Street, Hobart Town, in partnership with Robert Smith. However, by February 1868, just weeks after the Duke’s visit, the partnership was dissolved.

Above: Dissolution notice published in The Mercury on 26 February 1868 of the partnership between Robert Smith and Thomas Nevin. William Robert Giblin, later Attorney-General and Premier, was Thomas Nevin’s solicitor and witness, and subsequently his mentor and employer for the colonial government’s prisoner photographs commission.

TRANSCRIPT
… on Saturday 18th January (the day fixed for his departure) on board the Galatea, to his Excellency the Governor, Mrs Gore Browne and Miss Gore Browne, Her Majesty’s Ministers, the Chairman of the Reception Committee, the Hon JM Wilson MLC, and Mr Tarleton and advantage was taken of this farewell interview to place in the Prince’s hands the album of photographs of Tasmanian scenery which had been prepared under the direction of the Reception Committee for presentation to him from the colonists as a memorial of his visit. The album contained eighty three photographs illustrative of the scenery of Tasmania forty eight portraits of children born in the colony and nine plates immediately connected with the Prince’s visit. The title page was drawn by Mr Alfred Randall and illustrated by Mr WC Piguenit. His Royal Highness was pleased to request that the Reception Committee would furnish him with duplicate copies of all the pictures for the illustration of a work which his Royal Highness is preparing in connection with his visit to the Australasian Colonies. After the presentation the guests sat down to luncheon with his Royal Highness in the state reception saloon of the Galatea. Lord Newry and the Prince’s suite were also present. The Prince’s guests bade their Royal host farewell about half past two pm when steam was got up and the anchors were weighed. At three o clock the noble vessel steamed slowly down the estuary of the Derwent and the Prince bidding adieu to Tasmania proceeded on his voyage to Sydney.

Source: p210 Narrative of the Visit of the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh…
Narrative of the visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to the colony of Victoria, Australia by John George Knight. Download pdf here.

This second portrait of a child (below) may have been another of the several taken by Nevin specifically for the Duke’s album which he then reprinted for inclusion in the later duplicate album – the second version – which the Duke requested from the Reception Committee. Since Nevin and Smith had dissolved their partnership less than a month after the Duke’s request, Nevin had no choice but to reprint this one with a stamp bearing his name and the Royal Arms insignia, a stamp which he continued to use throughout the 1870s for official and public commissions, and notably for his government commission to photograph prisoners at the Port Arthur and Hobart Town gaols for their prison records and the Police Criminal Registers.

Who were they? They were photographer T.J. Nevin’s sitters for police records.

Above: Wall chart or poster of Tasmanian convicts produced by the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority ca. 1991 with photographs by Thomas Nevin from the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Beattie Collection.

This poster or wall chart is for sale at the National Trust’s Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site, adjacent to the site of the former Hobart Gaol. Its montage of Thomas Nevin’s portraits of Tasmanian convicts (1870s) was compiled from John Watt Beattie’s donated collection (ca. 1927) at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority is credited with its production, according to the caption on lower border, left, and presumably for its large titles: “WHO WERE THEY?” and “THE CONVICTS OF PORT ARTHUR”. The poster or wall chart was published as a booklet ca. 1991, according to Libraries Australia catalogue notes:

Several of these convicts were indeed incarcerated as transportees at Port Arthur at some time during their criminal careers, and some were local offenders or “native”. But they were not photographed because they had been transported convicts per se (transportation ended in 1853), but because they were habitual offenders, escapees and recidivists. Their photographs were commissioned and used by the Town Hall Police Office and Prisons Department in the course of daily detection and surveillance. All of these photographs were taken by Thomas and Jack Nevin at the Hobart Goal where the Port Arthur inmates were relocated from as early as 1871 through to the Port Arthur closure in 1877. All prisoners by 1874 with sentences longer than 3 months were being received at the prison in Hobart Town from regional lock-ups. The Nevin brothers held exclusive rights to the commission.

Caption: Thomas Harrison – 3 months for being idle and disorderly

and its verso with Nevin’s government stamp.

Recto and verso of convict Smith carte with Nevin’s studio stamp
Carte numbered “199″ on recto QVMAG & AOT Ref: 30-3244

Why does this carte of Smith bear Nevin’s studio stamp? The question has been asked by photo historians with little consideration to the realities of government tender. It was one of several chosen by Nevin to access his commission, register copyright with the police office, and renew his contract under the terms of the tender. Only one photograph was required per batch under the terms of the Patents Act (Victoria). There is nothing out of ordinary about this carte which would set it apart from more than 200 extant mugshots taken by Nevin in the 1870s – its framing, processing and pose are consistent with Nevin’s commercial portraiture of the period, the verso stamp being used to identify the photographer’s joint copyright with the government.

Verso of convict carte of William Smith per Gilmore (3)
with T. J. Nevin’s stamp printed with the government insignia, the Royal Arms.

POLICE RECORDS for William Smith per Gilmore 3:

Source: Tasmania Reports of Crime Information for Police, James Barnard Government Printer.

William Smith per Gilmore 3, discharged with TOL 10 September 1873, received from Port Arthur. Note that his age and physical measurements are not recorded at the Police Office because no photograph existed prior to his release. When Nevin photographed him on arrest in April 1874, Smith was wearing a combination of prisoner and civilian clothing. He was also unshaved. The photograph exhibits a degree of liminality of the prisoner’s state: free on a ticket of leave but contained as a criminal in the open prison that was the island of Tasmania.

Click on images for readable version

Smith reoffended again in April 1874, sentenced to 12 months and photographed by Nevin on incarceration at the Hobart Gaol.

Wm Smith discharged 1st April, 1875.

Suspicion attaches to William Smith per Gilmore 3, 23rd April, 1875

Wm Smith per Gilmore 3 Warrant for arrest 23 April 1875.

Thomas Nevin’s knowledge of Smith from face-to-face contact while photographing him in 1874 was used as an adjunct in the written description issued by police of Smith’s coming under suspicion for theft just three weeks after his release on 1st April, 1875. Smith was arrested 3 months later in July 1875.

William Smith arrested, notice of 9th July, 1875.

Thomas Nevin photographed William Smith again wearing a hat. This is another “booking photograph” taken on the prisoner’s arrest on 9th July 1875. His dress here signifies again a liminal state between TOL freedom and prison.

William Smith per Gilmore 3.
Photo by Thomas Nevin, July 1875
Stamped verso with Nevin’s government stamp
Mitchell Library NSW PXB 274 No.1

The first carte is numbered “199″. This, the second of William Smith is numbered “200″ and it is another original photograph by Thomas Nevin which bears Nevin’s stamp with the Royal Arms on verso. It is held at the Mitchell Library, NSW, among others by Nevin acquired by David Scott Mitchell prior to 1907. The sequence of numbers is insignificant, whether transcribed from a police register, or whether devised by archivists in the 20th century. There is no real-time-based relationship between the photographs: in one William Smith is bewhiskered and wearing a patterned scarf (April 1874); in the other he is clean shaven and wearing a plain neckerchief and hat (July 1875). They were clearly taken at different times during Smith’s well-documented criminal career.

Verso of photograph of William Smith per Gilmore 3.
Photo by Thomas Nevin, July 1875
Stamped verso with Nevin’s studio stamp and Royal Arms
Mitchell Library NSW PXB 274
Photography © KLW NFC The Nevin Family Collection 2008-2009 ARR

“The head and body and voice are decidedly pussy’s; but there the relationship with that useful domestic animal ceases…”

Courtesy of Museum Victoria
John Gould print image of the Long-nosed Potoroo
Potorous tridactylus(formerly known as Hypsiprymnus apicalis)
Photo from Mammals of Australia, Vol. II Plate 68
Part of the 3 Volumes by John Gould, F.R.S.
Published by the author, 26 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, London, 1863

THE WAYWARDNESS of NATURE
Photographer Thomas J. Nevin began exhibiting stereoscopic views and carte-de-visite portraits at Hobart Town Hall shows in the late 1860s. Once he became the Town Hall Keeper in 1876, and Office-Keeper in 1877, he not only managed a busy calendar of show events, he staged a few of his own. This newspaper article, published on 8 May 1877, invited the public to visit the Town Hall where he was displaying a mutant kangaroo rat, the only one in a litter of kittens bred from a domestic cat by Thomas’ father John Nevin at Kangaroo Valley (near New Town, Hobart Tasmania).

A Zoological Curiosity at the Hobart Town Hall
Thomas Nevin’s mutant kangaroo rat
Report in The Mercury 8 May 1877

TRANSCRIPT

“A ZOOLOGICAL CURIOSITY. — Mr. Nevin, Town Hall keeper, yesterday brought to our office what Artemus Ward would undoubtedly have christened “an interesting little cus.” It is of the feline order, and has a perfect black coat. The head and body and voice are decidedly pussy’s; but there the relationship with that useful domestic animal ceases. The legs belong to the order of kangaroo rat, and it is quite amusing to see the little stranger perch himself up on his haunches, or drag himself slowly along by the aid of the fore part of the fore legs, which instead of being erect, as in the cat, falls flat on the ground, and so produces that roundness of the body which is the marked feature in the kangaroo. The animal is one of a litter of kittens bred by Mr. Nevin’s father, at Kangaroo Valley, and strange to say it is the only one in which are present the singular malformations which we have attempted to describe. Mr. Nevin will gladly show his curiosity to anyone who may call upon him during the next two or three days, and if there are many people in Hobart Town who take an interest in the waywardness of nature, he may expect to have quite an influx of visitors before he closes his show. ” (The Mercury, 8 May 1877)

John Nevin would have been familiar with the writings of American humorist Artemus Ward from his time spent in the Californian gold mines ca. 1854-1858, a lonely episode in his life which he remembered with bitterness in his poem, “My Cottage in the Wilderness” published in 1868. Read the full version of the poem in this article here.

Thomas Nevin and his father brought another specimen from Kangaroo Valley into the newspaper offices six months after putting on display their mutant kangaroo rat. This time it was a wounded white Tasmanian goshawk which The Mercury duly noted in an article of 22 January 1878. The detailed references in that article to John Gould’s Handbook of Australian Birds (1865) would indicate the family’s keen interest in native fauna and ownership of several volumes of Gould’s handsome books on birds and mammals. The Public Library housed in the upstairs rooms of the Town Hall was also part of Nevin’s purview as Keeper, giving him ready access to such gloriously illustrated tomes. And out the back of the Town Hall was a paddock where he kept an emu, possibly a rare native specimen which died in 1878, also reported by The Mercury on 22 July 1878 as an Ornithological Disaster , another zoological item belonging to Mr. Nevin.

DISTRIBUTION and REFERENCE:

Tasmanian Rat-Kangaroo (Potorous tridactylis apicalis)

The Red List

PAPER
The Chromosomes of the Tasmanian Rat-Kangaroo (Potorous tridactylis apicalis)
Margery W. Shaw, R.S. Krooth
Department of Human Genetics, The University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan
Cytogenetics 1964;3:19-33 (DOI: 10.1159/000129795)

The Kangaroo Rat, 1790

Creator Stone, Sarah, ca. 1760 – 1844
Poto Roo or Kangaroo Rat ca. 1790
State Library of NSW Call no. PXA 909/27

A PHOTOGRAPHIC FEAT

On Christmas Day, 25th December 1874, The Mercury newspaper (Tasmania) published a notice which served the dual purpose of praising Nevin’s photographic talents and suggesting by way of praise that the “literary curiosity” would make a great gift as a Christmas card:

T.J. Nevin’s photographic feat, The 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
Click on image for large view

Nevin would have delivered to the newspaper office a commercial version of the card which must have been printed verso with his official studio stamp in 1874, the only one of his stamps bearing his full initials – ” T. J. Nevin” above the government 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, probably in this instance his wife Elizabeth, hand-painted the green and red motif of Christmas holly, possibly 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; SLTas). The carte of this (unknown) toddler would have been included in Nevin’s stock of Christmas cards for 1874, on sale at 14o Elizabeth Street along with the miniature reproduction of The Mercury’s front page.

Detail of the holly motif

This photograph was taken by H. H. Baily on Regatta Day, Hobart, February 1872. The Mercury published a notice to inform the public of its availability. The notice describes the scene in great detail.

Photo by H. H. Baily, Regatta Day 1872.
State Library of Tasmania
AUTAS001126252188

State Library of Tasmania
Title: Regatta: championship gig race, Hobart Town
Publisher: [Hobart, Tas. : s.n., between 1870 and 1890]
Description: 1 photographic print mounted on card : b&w ;
104 x 180 mm. ; on mount 152 x 240 mm.
Format: [picture]. Photograph
ADRI:AUTAS001126252188
Source: Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
Notes: Condition at May 2003: Minor staining and spotting as well as considerable fading adjacent to both horizontal borders.Overall condition is good.
Electronic version of photograph available at: http://images.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/

THE MERCURY, 2 February 1872
Beneath the notice about Baily’s photograph is a notice informing the public that Thomas Nevin’s photographs taken of an organised tour called “The Colonists’ Trip” down the Derwent were also available. The newspaper did not publish photographs until the late 1880s, so these photographs which Baily and Nevin forwarded to The Mercury would have been displayed in the newspaper office windows.

H.H. Baily and Thomas Nevin at the Regatta,
The 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 o special interest to those who took part, and will probably like to secure this remembrance of so memorable event.

The photographs by Nevin may be among a series of stereographs depicting people on board a ship held at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. Their database listed these items in 2005:

TMAG
Q1994.56.1
ITEM NAME: Photograph:
MEDIUM: sepia stereoscope – arched image,
MAKER: T Nevin [Artist];
DATE: 1870c
DESCRIPTION : Group of gentlemen and a lady on board a ship. Capstan wheel in centre of image. Same group as in Q994.56.5, Q1994.56.24
INSCRIPTIONS & MARKS: Impressed on front : T Nevin/ Photo