Tasmania Reads: An Application to the Orphan School (Part Two: The Answer and Historical Background)

The State Library is issuing a challenge to Tasmanians to read five different examples of nineteenth century handwriting from our Heritage Collections, each featuring a different set of records held in the State Archives.

Just to recap:

Your Transcription Challenge

This final challenge is, for me, the most difficult to read both for its content and style. It is an application to the Colonial Secretary for the immediate admission of John Garrity to the newly opened orphanage at New Town.  The orphan school catered for the children of convicts under sentence, as well as the children of the free when the parents were unable or unwilling to care for them.

Tasmanian Archives:   General Correspondence, Colonial Secretary’s Office CSO5/1/86 File 1885 page 154

The Answer

Memorandum

 28th Sep.

Be so good as to direct that John Garritty 7 years of age, son of Charles Garritty formerly a soldier in the Staff Corps- be received into the Orphan School this day. – the Child is perfectly destitute, his cruel and unnatural Parent having total abandoned him.

State Library of Tasmania: Front view of the New Church and King’s Male and Female Orphan Schools now in progress of building at New Town, January 1831 etch’d by C. Bruce. Hobart Town : James Ross, [1831].

Historical Background: The Garretty Family

To find out more about the family mentioned in the above memo I consulted the “Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833 (SWD24/1/1) (p382+). This record contained a wealth of information about the parents and revealed that little John Garrity wasn’t the only child in the family who was received into the orphanage.

At the May 1832 meeting of the Orphan Management committee the chair, Reverend Bedford announced that there was a man in attendance by the name of Shepherd who had arrived on the convict ship Asia,  with 3 children named Garrity who had been abandoned by their parents and left with him, but that he was unable to support them. As was reported:

Shepherd and the children were then called in and examined when the former informed the Committee that the Father had gone on a Whaling Voyage as Cooper at Eleven Pounds per month that the mother and Children lived in the Same House with him and that after the departure of the Father the mother cohabited with a man by the name of Bonsor  a Shoemaker, who had since gone into the Interior & it is supposed the woman after him leaving the Children totally unprovided for.

In consequence of the destitute helpless situation of the Children, the Committee recommends that they be admitted temporarily into the Orphan Schools that the Secretary address a Letter to the Chief Police Magistrate suggesting the desirability of instituting some enquiry to discover the Guilty Parties in order that the Colony may not be burdened with the Education and Support of these destitute helpless children.

Vid – John Garrity about 6 years
          Helen Garrity about 4 years
          William Garrity about 2 years

Tasmanian Archives: Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833, SWD24/1/1, p.383.

At the following week’s meeting of the Committee, it was reported that:

that the two Youngest of the Garrity’s referred to on the last minutes had been received into the Female Orphan School but that the Eldest Boy had not made his appearance at the Male School. “

[He then] read a letter from the Chief Police magistrate dated the 9th where he wrote he had “caused the necessary enquiry to be made relative to the Parents Garrity who have abandoned their children and enclosing the result thereof.

Tasmanian Archives: Minutes of the Meetings of the Committee of Management for the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools” between 1825 and 1833, SWD24/1/1, p.383.

The Parents

Garrity was a soldier in the Royal Staff Corps whose wife had come with him to the NSW Colony on the Chapman in 1827.

A small contingent of the Royal Staff Corps was sent to Oatlands in early 1827 where they built some barracks and a gaol. (See note)

The Acting Secretary continued his report, “on the Corps being disbanded, he went as a Cooper in the “Hetty” Schooner leaving an order on the Owner.” (SWD24/1/1 page 384)

Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania: [Oatlands Gaol] , photographic print on card, [Tasmania : s.n. 18–?]

__________________________________________________________________________________

Note

The Hobart Town Gazette reported on 3 March 1827 that, “Lieutenant Vachell (sic) with a party of the Staff-Corps and mechanics [was] proceeding to Oatlands to build a military barracks there.  By November of that year the Tasmanian newspaper was reporting, “The Township of Oatlands under the superintendence of Lieutenant Wachell (sic) of the Royal Staffs is in a state of great forwardness. The stonework of the Officers’ Quarters and the Gaol is just about finished. This settlement is about five miles from the Tindish holes where Mr Bennett was lately killed by the Natives.”  The gaol was finished December 1827.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The Interloper

Thomas Shepherd and James Bonsor knew each other as they were both convicted in Nottinghamshire and both arrived on the same convict ship the Asia 1, January 1824. They  also spent time in jail together awaiting transportation.  Bonsor was a young man of 20 when transported, Shepherd was old enough to be his father at 59 years of age. So, it’s not surprising that in 1831/2 when Bonsor found himself in trouble, he turned to his old friend at New Norfolk for a place to stay. 

The Opportunity

I don’t know why the Garrety’s moved to New Norfolk, as it was only slightly larger than Oatlands, but it may have been that they thought its proximity to Hobart would allow Garrety more employment opportunities. He was unlucky as his skills, as a tradesman, that had been in demand and well paid until the late 1820s, had experienced a 50% decline since then. (Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land 1824-1839, Table 19)  

This explains his motivation in gaining employment on a whaling vessel, which would be away for months at a time from his family.

By leaving his wife and children with Shepherd who was by then in his sixties I am sure that Garrity would have thought his wife safe from temptation and that Shepherd would not trouble her. But Garrity had no idea that a much younger man would also be residing at the house with his wife.

The Father’s Continuing Misfortune

Charles Garrity’s run of bad luck was not yet over.

Following his discovery of his wife with Bonsor, Charles Garrity set sail on another whaling voyage, this time on the Dragon.  It set sail for the New Zealand whaling fisheries. (Nicholson, Part II, p10)

In May of 1833 it was reported in the papers that the entire crew of the Dragon, except for a young boy, had been killed and eaten by the New Zealand Māori and their ship burnt.

The report is as follows:

A letter has been received in Hobart Town, dated on board the brig Amity 2nd of April, when lying off Clark’s Reef. The brig had 100 barrels of oil on board and the Lindsay’s 370 barrels. The latter vessel had picked up in an open boat, at sea, a New Zealand lad, who had witnessed the capture, by the blacks, of the brig Dragon. He states the vessel was burnt, and all the crew were put to death and afterwards eaten. The attack first commenced when the crew of the whaler had made fast to a fish and had run it into a small islet where the numbers of the natives soon overpowered them, and the disastrous sequel too easily was affected.”

Colonial Times, 1833, May 28, p. 2.

This news was not reported in the Hobart papers until May 1833 a year after the two youngest Garrety children had been admitted into the orphanage.

In case there is any doubt that the unfortunate Charles Garrety was on board this ship this is quashed by the letter sent by his widow Ann two years later, on the 6th of May 1835 to the Colonial Secretary.

The Mother’s Appeal

In case there is any doubt that the unfortunate Charles Garrety was on board this ship is quashed by the letter sent by his widow Ann two years later, on the 6th of May 1835 to the Colonial Secretary. Her letter, written from New Plains, reads:

Ann, widow of the late Charles Garrety who arrived in this Colony per Chapman in 1827 begs that she may be informed if 100 acres of Land could be granted to her of behalf of her late husband who belonged to the Royal Staff Corps who was drowned, … “her Three Children Two Boys and a Girl have been by the kindness of his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor been placed in the Orphan School.

Tasmanian Archives: General Correspondence, Colonial Secretary’s Office: CSO1/1/803, File 17184)

Her request was denied.

The news that had been received in 1833 had meant Ann Garrety was free to marry again.  Her application to the Colonial Secretary in May 1835 was no doubt prompted by her forthcoming marriage to Daniel Simms of New Plains.

Despite her remarriage it was not until five years later, in May of 1840, that her youngest child William Garrity who had been admitted at the age of two and listed in the orphan school records as “an orphan” was reunited with his mother. He was by then nine years old.

John and Helen Garretty – the two elder children

What happened to the other two children?

The orphan school records are very minimal in their detail and often only record when the child was admitted and when the child was discharged.

Joyce Purstcher writes in Children in Queen’s Orphanage, “when children turned 14 years of age they were apprenticed out. They had to work for no money until they were 18. They were at the mercy of their masters regarding food, clothing, and housing.”

John Garretty (sic) was discharged on the 7 July 1840, two months after his younger brother was returned to his mother and apprenticed to E.W Carter Esq. He was fourteen years old.

E.W Carter is most likely William Carter Esq, a merchant, who was appointed an officer of the Court in 1840 and who owned property in New Town, the suburb where the Orphan School was situated. He later became a member of the Legislative Council.

In 1840 William Carter was living at New Town, renting a farm, from G.W. Evans and complaining of stock damage to his crops due to the failure of the Government to erect a fence along New Town Road.  It wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that young John Garretty was apprenticed to either build a fence or watch over the stock.

Sadly, we have no further records for John Garretty. We hold no marriage records, no departure records nor a death record, so we don’t know what happened to him once he could earn his own way in the world. His sister Helen/ Ellen was discharged from the orphanage on the 12 July 1842, two years after her brothers had left the Orphan School.  She was then fourteen years old. She was apprenticed to George Horne Esq, a solicitor and farmer in Launceston.  Unfortunately, Helen also disappears after her apprenticeship. We don’t have a record of her marrying, or having children, leaving the state, or dying. Nor do we have records of either of the children.

Bibliography

Tasmanian Archive Sources

Tasmanian Archives, CON13-1-3,  Convict Department, Assignment Lists and Various Papers, 1824-1826 page 15

Tasmanian Archives: CSO1/1/803 Colonial Secretary’s Office, Correspondence Files, 1824-1836 File 17184

Tasmanian Archives: CSO5/1/86 Colonial Secretary’s Office, Correspondence Files, 1837-1841, File 1885,  page 154

Tasmanian Archives: CSO5/1/93 Colonial Secretary’s Office, Correspondence Files, 1837-1841  File 2074 page 66

Tasmanian Archives: SWD24/1/1, Kings/Queens Orphan Schools, Minutes 1826-1833, page 382+

Tasmanian Archives: SWD28/1/1 Kings/Queens Orphan Schools, Register of children admitted and discharged 1828-1863,  page 3

State Library Sources

Bruce, Charles, Front view of the New Church and King’s Male and Female Orphan School now in progress of building at new Town, January 1831, print, Hobart Town, James Ross [1831]

Nicholson, Ian Hawkins, Shipping Arrivals and Departures, Tasmania, Volume 1, 1803-1833, Canberra Roebuck, 1983

[Oatlands Gaol], photograph, [Tasmania, 18–?] Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, State Library of Tasmania

Purstcher Joyce, Children in Queen’s Orphanage, Hobart Town 1828-1863, New Town, Tas, I.       Schaffer, 1993

Purstcher Joyce, More references for Tasmanian Children in Care 1826-1899, Mt Stuart, Tas,       J. Purstcher, 1996

Statistical Returns of Van Diemen’s Land 1824-1838, Hobart Town, V.D. Land 1839

Newspaper articles

HOBART TOWN, MARCH 3, 1827. (1827, March 3). The Hobart Town Gazette (Tas. : 1825 – 1833), p. 2. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8791780

Further Reading

Publications about the New Town Orphanage

Archival records of the Kings/Queens Orphan Schools 1828-1860

Tasmania Reads: Reading a Convict Record (Part Two: The Answer and Historical Background)

The State Library and Archive Service is issuing a challenge to Tasmanians to read five different examples of nineteenth-century handwriting from our Heritage Collections, each featuring a different set of records held in the State Archives.

Just to recap:

Your Transcription Challenge

Your second challenge is to transcribe the conduct record of Isaac Solomon. The information in this section of the conduct record was mostly self-reported by convicts on their arrival to Van Diemen’s Land during the assignment period (pre-1840).

Tasmanian Archives: Isaac Solomon, Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Assignment System (1831), CON31/1/39 page 161

This section of the convict record is in the top right-hand corner and usually included what the convict was transported for, their gaol report, the hulk report, marital status, what offences the convict stated they were convicted for and former convictions and the Surgeon’s report.

Hint:  Convict records, commonly used abbreviations .

The Answer

Transported for receiving stolen goods Gaol report Before transported Hulk report Married 5 children Stated this offence Received stolen goods transported about 20 years ago for a pocketbook Pardoned in 3 or 4 years afterwards as Moses Joseph was sent to Sydney for the same Offence Wife and family in this Colony. Married six children.

Historical Background: Who was Isaac Solomon?

This is the conduct record of Isaac Solomon who was transported on the William Glen Anderson in 1831.  Isaac Solomon, more frequently known as Ikey Solomon, is widely believed to be the inspiration for Dickens character of Fagin in Oliver Twist. Fagin was of Jewish descent as was Ikey Solomon. Fagin is an anagram of the Yiddish word for thief, ganif.

Dicken’s portrayal of him has been described as, “one of the most notorious antisemitic portraits in English literature.”  In Oliver Twist he describes Fagin as a very shrivelled old Jew, whose villainous-looking and repulsive face was obscured by a quantity of matted red hair. (Dickens, Oliver Twist, p42)

Author Bryce Courtenay continues in a similar vein – extending his insults to include Ikey’s wife Ann in The Potato Factory. Courtenay describes Ikey and Hannah Solomon as creatures of the dark hours, dirty furtive and predatory – who are so consumed by greed and hate that they are unable to form meaningful relationships or make a go of it in the new colony.

Tasmanian Archives: Isaac Soloman, Description Lists of Male Convicts, CON18/1/21 Image 122 . During his lifetime Ikey was described as a ladies man, a dandy and handsome.

 In her court appearance at the Old Bailey in 1827 where she was convicted of receiving stolen goods, his wife Ann was described as dressed elegantly. She was sentenced to be transported to Van Diemens Land and arrived on the Mermaid in June 1828, aged thirty-five.

There can be no doubt that Ikey was a very successful career criminal. He was charismatic and this along with his wealth, made him many friends, both male and female, with many in positions of authority and influence. Some writers say he was probably a member of the Masonic Society, and as such would have been protected by that society. He was at the height of his career one of the richest men in London, and credited by the popular press as the Prince of Fences, and a notorious receiver

The story of Isaac Solomon and his family is a fascinating one, and it has been written many times.  T. Garth Hyland writes a fictionalised and well researched account of Ikey Solomon’s life and adventures that’s intertwined with his own family history in Thanks a lot, Guv!  and John S. Levi & G.F. J. Bergman devote a chapter to him  in Australian Genesis: Jewish convicts and settlers  . The chapter is tellingly titled, “Fagin in Australia”. 

The First Fagin: the true story of Ikey Solomon, by Judith Sackville-O’Donnell is the most recent account held in the State Library of Tasmania’s collection.  Published in 2002 it aims to be a corrective to the harsh portrayal of Fagin and Ikey in fiction.  Sackville -O’Donnell claim that it’s also a love story.  Sackville-O’Donnell’s version has been made into a DVD also titled, The First Fagin that it seamlessly blends reconstructed dramatic sequences with historical documentary.

J.J. Tobias’s book follows on from his BBC radio series on Ikey. He has made a career of writing on crime and police in England.  Tobais’s publication “Prince of Fences: the life and crimes of Ikey Solomon”  draws on the official records of the Tasmanian State Archives and the Public Records office of London.

There are lending copies of all books and the DVD for you to enjoy so I’m not going to give you the full story here. 

If you decided you wanted to write your own version of the Ikey Solomon story – what angle would you take? Would it be a tale of anti-semitism, a love story, a true crime documentary, an account of life and crime in London in the early 19th century, an expose of Governor Arthur’s convict system where wealthy and skilled convicts were treated differently?  Or might it be an expose of the wealthy and influential contacts Ikey had in VDL in arrival, or perhaps a tale of how Jewish people survived in early Australia?

As well as the books and DVD mentioned previously you can also access the multitude of archival records held on the Solomons.

Search our catalogue for  Archival records  and Names Index records for Ikey. Most of the records for Ann are included with Ikeys. But here are the links to her own convict records:  Ann Solomons (sic)

We also have a very extensive research file that will give you access to many other records and newspaper accounts. If you are interested in the research file,  submit a research enquiry ask for Isaac Solomon’s research file and we will send you a summary of the contents with instructions on how to obtain copies.

This is presumed to be a picture of Ikey Solomons on the doorstep of his tobacconist shop in Elizabeth Street, Hobart. Tasmanian Archives: Photograph – Side view of Ikey Solomon’s shop in Elizabeth Street, Hobart (1860), PH30/1/700.

Bibliography

Tasmanian Archive Sources

Miscellaneous Photographs, PH30/1/700, Photograph – Side View of Solomon’s Shop in Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Convict Department, Conduct Registers of Male Convicts Arriving in the Period of the Assignment System CON31/1/39 page 161
Convict Department, Description List of Male Convicts, CON18/1/21 Image122

State Library Sources

We hold many different formats and versions of these two publications

Bryce Courtney, The Potato Factory

Charles Dickens,  Oliver Twist  

T. Garth Hyland, Thanks a lot, Guv! : the stories of John Ireland (Hyland) & Harriet James, James & Sophia Gunyon, James Britton, William Heard (Hurd), Isaac (Ikey) & Ann Solomon, Sandy Bay, T Garth Hyland c.2004

John S Levi, and G.F.J.  Bergman, Australian genesis : Jewish convicts and settlers, 1788-1860, Carlton South, Vic, Melbourne University  Press, 2002

Judith Sackville-O’Donnell, The first Fagin : the true story of Ikey Solomon, Melbourne, Acland Press, 2002 

Helen Gaynor, The first Fagin [DVD] written and directed by Helen Gaynor, Alan Rosenthal, Canberra, A.C.T. Ronin Films, 2012

Newspapers accounts

“Ikey Solomons, his apprehension, and transmission to the country for trial.”, Morning Chronicle [newspaper], July 10, 1829, London, England  

Old Bailey”, Examiner [newspaper], December 12, 1824, London, England

Additional Reading

P.R. Eldershaw, Guide to the Public Records of Tasmania, Section three, Convict Department, Hobart, Tas. Archives Office, 1965

Susan Hood, Transcribing Convict Records, Port Arthur Tas, Port Arthur Management Authority, 2003.

Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2022

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania heritage collections.

Read on to find out about new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on FlickrYouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • Thomas Bock’s notes on photography, including Talbot’s calotype process and daguerreotypes – Ref: ALL34/1/1
  • Star of Tasmanian shipboard journal (1859-60) – Ref: NS7221/1/1
  • Journals of Separate Prison wardens, Tasman Peninsula (1860, 1863) – Ref CON91/1/2-3
  • Descriptive Lists of Male and Female Convicts to Be Embarked for Van Diemen’s Land from Various Prisons in the United Kingdom, (1839-50). Ref: CON114/1/1-8
  • Convict credit and gratuity books, Tasman Peninsula (1865-68). Ref: CON130/1/1-3
  • Register of Convicts for Whom Enquiries were Made (1850-68). Ref: GO121/1/1
  • Tasmanian Birth Registers (1921) – RGD33/2/5 to 8
  • Female Admissions, Royal Derwent Hospital (1898-1903) – Ref: AB365/1/13
  • Copies of Wills Recording Granting of Probate (1868-1874) – Ref: AD960/1/8, AD960/1/9
  • Daguerreotype and ambrotype portraits – Ref: NS5465/1/1-3
  • Launceston Collection of Photographs of Ships – Ref: LMSS761/1/1-490
  • Hobart Town by Ensign Kemp from behind my quarters / W.H. Kemp
  • Artworks by Knud Geelmuyden Bull
  • Mount Wellington from Bellerive, artist unknown
  • Mount Lyell mines map,1896
  • Glass plate negatives from AA Rollings Collection – Ref: NS1553/2/1 to 34
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2022”

Preservation Digitisation Project

In February 2021 the Tasmanian Libraries launched a major project – the Preservation Digitisation Project – across Digitisation Services, the Government Archives, and the Community Archives teams. The aim of this project is to preserve our Tasmanian film, sound and video collections for long-term preservation and access by the public. Our priority is the magnetic tape collection which is at great risk of being lost forever if not digitised before 2025.

Continue reading “Preservation Digitisation Project”

Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2021

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on FlickrYouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • Photographs of Tasmanian Cricket Teams – Ref: PH40/1/3625-27
  • Photographs of Launceston and Perth– Ref: NS7193/1/5-8
  • Artwork of Launceston Mechanics Institute – Ref: LPIC41/1/1
  • Artwork of Hobart Town, on the River Derwent, Van Diemen’s Land by W.J. Huggins (Allport)
  • Photograph of Twin Ferry Kangaroo, Hobart – Ref: PH30/1/3269
  • Advertisement for Weaver and Co, Wellington Bridge Hobart by T Midwood – Ref: NS6760/1/7
  • Glass Plate Negatives by A Rollings of Sorell Area – Ref: NS1553/1/1010-1099
  • Register of Convicts B, M-Z 1835-47 – Ref: CON22/1/4
  • Register of payment of salaries to officers of the police, 1855-57 – Ref: AUD45/1/1-3
  • Journal of a voyage from Liverpool to VDL, 1833 – Ref: NS5739/1/1
  • Copies of Wills Recording Granting of Probate – Ref: AD960/1/6, AD960/1/7
  • Film of opening of Launceston library after refit – Ref: AG279/1/2
  • Film of the Launceston children’s library – Ref: AG279/1/1
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2021”

10 ways to boost your Tasmanian Names Index searches

There have been some recent enhancements to how you can search the Tasmanian Names Index.

We have added more fields to the search filters on the drop-down menu to the left of the search bar. Some of these have always been there (while some are new additions). Many of you might not have been aware of the drop-down menu at all, but it can be a useful tool for refining your searches in our ever-expanding database of Tasmanian life.

Here is a short guide to what those options mean and when it might be useful to use them.

Continue reading “10 ways to boost your Tasmanian Names Index searches”

Recently Digitised Material: July-September 2021

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue and Tasmanian Names Index or visit us on Flickr, YouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • Richard Simson Photographic Collection – Ref: NS6351/1/1-95
  • Albums of Gladys Midwood – Ref: NS6759/1/2-3
  • Photographic Albums by Margaret Smithies, Ernest George Record and the McDowell family
  • Tasmanian Government Railways
  • 1920s aerial view of Hobart city block bounded by Murray, Harrington, Liverpool and Melville Street looking North from behind His Majesty’s Theatre and Hobart Rivulet – Ref: NS892/1/61
  • Artworks of Launceston
  • Emu Bay by Thomas Unwin
  • The Pests of the Prince by Henry Manly
  • TGR Williams glass plate negatives – Ref: NS1409/1/46-48
  • Judges notes on capital offences committed at Norfolk Island, 1846 – Ref: CSO20/1/449
  • Burial Plot Maps, Cornelian Bay Cemetery 1915-16 – Ref: AF86/1/1
  • Wills from AD960/1/5
  • 1829 journal written from London to Van Diemans Land by John Owen Lord – Ref: NS301/1/2
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: July-September 2021”

Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2021

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr, YouTube and Instagram.

In this blog:

  • Photographs related to the history of Tasmanian trams, buses, equipment and staff – Ref: AG184/1/1 to 33
  • Glass plate negatives of Hobart and Surrounds by William James Little (c1870 – 1920s) – Ref: NS526/1/1 to 49
  • Photographs collected by the Cox Family (c1850-1929) – Ref: NS6904/1/1 to 87
  • Photographs of Launceston sent to Overseas Pen-Friends – Ref: NS5622/1/1 to 15
  • Photographs of Hobart and surrounds taken by James Chandler (c1920s) – Ref: NS1231/2/1 to 22
  • Small collection of glass plate negatives from the Black family (c1930s) – Ref: NS5583/1/1 to 13
  • Album of Thomas Midwood – Ref: NS6759/1/1
  • Port Arthur Circuit – Baptism Register  (1828-43) – Ref: NS499/1/531
  • Port Arthur Circuit – Burial Register (1832-43) – Ref: NS499/1/532
  • Wills from AD960/1/1, AD960/1/2, AD960/1/3 and AD960/1/4
  • Travel Diary by Ernest Bailey – Ref: NS5845/1/1
Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: January-June 2021”

Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2020

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this post contains images and voices of deceased persons.

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr and YouTube.

In this blog:

  • Peter Laurie Reid Carte-De-Visite Collection, c1860 – Ref: NS1442/1/1 to 53
  • Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914 – Ref: NS6607/1/1 to 14
  • Stereoscopic Photographs of Emu Bay Burnie, c1890 – Ref: NS6664/1/1 to 5
  • Stereoscopic photographs taken by George Benjamin Davies for submission to the Postal Stereoscopic Society of Australia, c1921 – Ref: NS6538/1/1 to 33
  • Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau photographs – AA375
  • Photograph of Fanny Cochrane Smith and Horace Watson recording Tasmanian Aboriginal Songs: NS1553/1/1798
  • Illustrated Travelogue July 1919 – Ref: NS6853
  • Fountain in Governor’s garden, Port Arthur – Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts
  • Drawing of George Meredith, Senior – Ref: LMSS12/1/72
  • Photographs from the Trustees of the Tasmanian Public Library – Ref: SLT23
  • Wills Image Replacement Project: AD960/1/1
  • Diary of Police Duties kept by Charles H. Brown, District Constable, Coal Mines, Tasman Peninsula 1853 – Ref: CON129/1/1
  • Index to General Correspondence, 1836-7 – Ref: CSO4

Continue reading “Recently Digitised Material: October-December 2020”

Recently Digitised Material

This blog features some of the recently digitised items from the Tasmanian Archives and the State Library of Tasmania. Each year, we place items online to help promote and preserve our rare and special collections. These images and films are just a tiny sample of an amazing treasure trove of Tasmania’s heritage. From colonial artwork to convict records, from fragile glass plate negatives to rare films, from private letters to government records, our collections (including the Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts and the W L Crowther Collection) tell literally millions of stories from Tasmania and around the world.

Read on to find out more about our new additions to our digital collections! To discover even more, you can also search our catalogue or visit us on Flickr and YouTube.

In this blog:

  • Glass Plate Negatives of Sea Captains, c1920 – Ref: NS6192
  • Stereoscopic Views of the ‘Franklin Relics,’ 1860 – Ref: NS1155
  • Mt Biscoff Tin Mine Photographs – Ref: NS6719
  • Gentleman Jim, 1942 – Reference: Ref: NS4264/1/5
  • Hobart High School Photos – Ref: AG162/1/6
  • Charles Street School Register 1902-08 – Ref: AB753/1/1
  • Return of Convicts Embarked for Port Arthur by the Ships Tamar, Isabella, Shamrock, and Lady Franklin (1834-1855). Ref: CON126/1/1
  • Return of Money Forfeited by Prisoners at Port Arthur (1864). Ref: CON132/1/1
  • Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Commandant, Port Arthur (1834). Ref: CON86/1/2
  • Film: Timber Makes News, 1947 – Ref: AC672/1/219
  • Film: Les Skelly talking about Tiger Hill, 1986-9 – Ref: NS1391/1/1
  • Film: Burnie Mill, 1956 – Ref: AC672/1/1

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