For men in the late 19th Century, beards were the order of the day. If a man couldn’t grow a healthy, bristling beard, a moustache of distinction was an alternative. The very few fresh-faced individuals found in Brisbane Gaol’s description book are invariable quite young.
The Fresh-Faced Look
David W Barr was a 22 year old Scottish clerk serving the first of two sentences for larceny in 1875. While fresh-faced, short-haired and frankly terrified-looking in his admission photo, the experience of gaol did not deter him from reoffending.
TW Hurst, alias Montague, alias Cahill was 25 and chose not to hide his photogenic good looks under a mass of facial topiary . The number of alternate names for this young Irishman indicates a career in the conning arts.
20 year old Mexican-born sailor Alick Jax serving his second sentence that year for larceny sports a towering, tousled curly mop of hair. If you’re going to sneak into people’s homes and steal things – like, I kid you not, concertinas – it’s probably a good idea not to look quite so memorable, tonsorially-speaking.
A Few Good Moustaches
If you are aiming for the charming rogue look, a good head of hair and a rakish moustache could be the go. This is Irishman JJ Weldon Fleming, who conned his way through small towns in Queensland in the 1870s.
A larcenous chap named Joseph Viccars told his victims a terrible tale of being shipwrecked and left with nothing. Despite having been stripped of his worldly goods, he still had access to a razor and moustache wax in order to maintain his extravagant sideburns/moustache confection.
James Duffy, also convicted of larceny in 1875, models the bouffant, tousled hair/moustache combination offset nicely by a rakish cravat and slightly crumpled hat.
Great Beards of the Criminal Classes
Charles Pritchard was a very angry chap behind a bushy set of moustache and beard growths. His offences escalated from assault to assault with intent to rape to manslaughter.
George Hollwarth, aged 25, sporting shorter hair, but just as alarming a bristling beard as Mr Pritchard. He was also convicted of physical violence.
English-born Robert Hamilton, aged 34 in 1875 sports the slightly bouffant hair of his younger colleagues, together with a neat beard/stashe combination. Described as a bushman by trade, he loved to steal horses, and money, but mostly horses.
The very alarming-looking Quebecoise EA Derome (alias Jeffries or Geoffrey), pictured aged 40 in 1875 mid-way through a 20-year crime spree. He had been a sailor prior to choosing robbery as his vocation, and as well as cultivating facial hair that completely obscured two-thirds of his face, had a collection of scars and tattoos the like of which the Brisbane Gaol had never recorded before.
Moreton Bay and More 