The Odd Fellows’ Hall photograph 1871

This gallery contains 6 photos.

THE ODD FELLOWS’ HALL – A very fine photograph of the Odd Fellows’ Hall (corner of Davey and Harrington-streets) has been taken for the Society by Mr. Nevin, of Elizabeth-street. The view is taken from Davey-street, opposite the corner of the Freemasons’ Hotel, and thus shows the entrance to the rooms, with the whole front and side of the buildings. A well-known member of the institution, and a less known youth, have come within the range of the camera, and their presence greatly assists in conveying an idea of the dimensions of the hall. The picture is undoubtedly creditable to the artist. Continue reading →

The Photographer’s Wife

This gallery contains 11 photos.

“Look for a long time at what pleases you and longer still at what pains you.”
Colette

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Husbands and Wives NPG Exhibition 2010

This gallery contains 5 photos.

An exhibition of early colonial portraits titled HUSBANDS and WIVES has recently opened at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Australia. Apart from the usual collection of cartes-de-visite, there are several daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of individuals, couples and family groups on display, including the coloured ambrotype by Thomas Glaister, ca. 1858 (below, from the NPG online). Continue reading →

The Nevin farm burglariously entered 1881

This gallery contains 7 photos.

During the night of the 16th instant the dwelling of John Nevin, Kangaroo Valley, was burglariously entered, and the following articles stolen there-from: – 2 white shirts, one much worn; 2 Scotch twill shirts, one has a patch of different material across the shoulder, the other broken at the elbow; 1 old flannel shirt, stained in front; 1 white pillow-slip; 2 jars of raspberry jam; 2 lbs. soap; 2 lbs. bacon; the property of and shirts identifiable by John Nevin. Continue reading →

Constable W.J. Nevin at inquest 1882

This gallery contains 18 photos.

The Nevin brothers, Thomas (T. J. Nevin, 1842-1923) and John (W. J. Nevin, 1852-1891) served the Police and Prisons Departments of the Tasmanian government from the late 1860s to the late 1880s. Thomas was contracted as prisons and police photographer … Continue reading →

John Nevin: “My Cottage in the Wilderness” 1868

This gallery contains 5 photos.

The poem “My Cottage in the Wilderness” by John Nevin, 1868, father of Thomas J. Nevin, viewed here for the first time in four generations by a great great grand daughter, is held at the State Library of NSW, in … Continue reading →

John Nevin and Gould’s white goshawk

This gallery contains 6 photos.

WHITE HAWK.- We were yesterday shown a fine specimen of this bird wounded in Kangaroo Valley by Mr. Nevin. The bird is the common White Hawk (Leucospiza Novae Hollandiae) of this colony and Australia, and is well figured in Gould’s large work on Australian Birds under the name of Astur Novae Hollandiae. Gould was formerly of opinion that the White Hawk was merely an albino variety of the New Holland Goshawk, but in his more recent work the “Handbook of Birds of Australia,” he has placed it under the genus Leucospiza. This hawk is by no means rare. Continue reading →

The early deaths of Thomas Nevin’s sisters Rebecca and Mary

This gallery contains 12 photos.

In early 1977, Special Collections Librarian at the State Library of Tasmania, G.T. Stilwell, established from archival records (AOT MB 2/98) that parents John and Mary Nevin had arrived in Hobart in 1852 with four children: Thomas, Mary Ann, Rebecca, and William John (Jack). He forwarded this information in a letter to the QVMAG where curator John McPhee was preparing an exhibitions of Thomas Nevin’s photographs of convicts taken in the 1870s… Continue reading →

Jack Nevin, the other photographer in Thomas Nevin’s family

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Younger brother Jack Nevin … William John Nevin (1852-1891) was known to the family as Jack. He was less than six months old when he arrived in Hobart, Tasmania with his parents and siblings Thomas and Mary Anne on board … Continue reading →

Fourth son George Ernest Nevin

This gallery contains 6 photos.

George Ernest Nevin (1880-1957) was born at the Hobart Town Hall during his father Thomas Nevin’s occupancy as Office and Hall Keeper, and photographer with the Municipal Police Office. Thanks to George’s prescience in keeping photographs taken by his father … Continue reading →

Thomas Nevin self portraits 1850s-1880

This gallery contains 6 photos.

There are not many extant self portraits of Tasmanian colonial photographers of the 1850s-1880. The watercolour attributed to Alfred Bock of a young gentleman is held at the State Library of Tasmania; the photographs are held in descendants’ private collections. … Continue reading →

The firm of Nevin & Smith

This gallery contains 8 photos.

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, the partnership was dissolved. Continue reading →

Younger brother Jack Nevin (1851-1891)

This gallery contains 12 photos.

Jack Nevin looks very relaxed and very savvy about the process of being photographed. His gaze is direct and very keen, his clothes suitable for everyday work in a foul place such as a prison. His salaried positions were primarily in administration, with a career path and ranking similar to the Keeper’s. Older brother Thomas Nevin had been a Keeper too of a public institution, at the Hobart Town Hall between 1876-1880, a special constable during the Chiniquy Riots of 1879, and assistant bailiff in the courts during the 1880s. Jack Nevin’s presence at the Gaol points to a close family involvement by both Nevin brothers with prisoner documentation – visual and written. Continue reading →

Oral history: Nevin family at Kangaroo Valley

This gallery contains 26 photos.

Mary Anne Nevin was the 5 year-old member of the Nevin family placed on the Fairlie sick list on the voyage out to Hobart, arriving July 1852.On board was the entire family of young Thomas Nevin, then aged 10 yrs. His father, John Nevin, pensioner guard (b. Ireland 1808) worked the family’s passage. He was accompanied by Mary Nevin, his wife (b.England 1810) and four children:

Thomas James Nevin: (1842-1923) died at age 80
Mary Ann Nevin: (1844-1878) died at age 34
Rebecca Jane Nevin (1847-1865) died at age 18
William John Nevin (1852-1891) died at age 39 Continue reading →