19th century and early 20th century “mug shots” are often extraordinary, capturing the spirit and story of the accused in a quite poignant way. Our modern digital photographs, taken as a matter of routine in the blink of an eye, usually portray the accused in the dishevelled state that offending, arrest and questioning will cause, but capture little else of the subject.
Perhaps the difference was the time and effort that went into obtaining a photograph in those days – finding a place that was properly lit, posing and focusing the sitter and making the sitter remain still until the image was captured.
Here are some prisoners from the Brisbane Gaol (Boggo Road).
Meet Henry Parker, alias Hartigan, alias Cahill, alias Cliffe, alias “The Snob”. Would you cash an order for a man like this? Aged 58 at the time of this arrest and photograph in 1894, he was born in Ireland and travelled to Australia at the age of 15. A bootmaker by profession, he appears to have spent the last 30 years of the 19th century forging and uttering and being caught and imprisoned in the Capricornia area.
Clearly Henry was unable or unwilling to reform, because no sooner was he breathing fresh, if tropical, free air than he was at it again.
Julian Sinclair, a striking red haired American sailor, had only been in the Colony a year before this photo was taken, but he had managed to rack up two larceny charges in that time. He was aged 29 and sentenced to four years.
Frederick William Grey alias Edward Patmore alias Frederick Hordern alias John Brown posed for this mug shot at the age of 26, convicted embezzlement. He had been in Australia for 5 years by then and was a Butcher by trade. He must have found the austere conditions of Brisbane Gaol to his liking, because he stayed there again and again. In 1899 for Illegally obtaining a passage from Sydney. In 1900 for assault, in 1901 for drunkenness, then indecent exposure and then vagrancy. He returned for a 2-month stay in 1905 for false pretences.
Irishman David Dee appears to have the world on his shoulders in his 1894 mug shot for larceny. He was 41, and had been in the Colony for 20 years, much of it spent in the tropics around Townsville and Charters Towers. David had offended once before – wounding at Charters Towers, for which he served 4 years. He received 3 years for this larceny and did not visit Brisbane Gaol again.
Sensitive-looking Shannon Johnston, a 20-year-old blacksmith, taken on his conviction for wounding with intent in 1890. He threw a stone at an indigenous man named Tu-Tu, who had had the temerity to resist Johnston’s attempt to interfere with his partner, Kitty. The stone struck Tu-Tu on the temple, and he eventually died after considerable suffering and several visits to hospital.
This 1890 portrait reflects a trend in gaol photography at the time – to pose the defendant with their hands visible at the front.
Another change in prison photography – by the time William Schultz began his 10-year career in larceny and vagrancy in 1895, prisoners were photographed near a mirror to record their profiles.
These photographs, and many more like them, are available to view on the State Archives of Queensland website, as part of the Department of Corrective Services collections.
Moreton Bay and More 