NRS-1942 | Photograph description books [general]

Full description

This record contains a photograph of each prisoner and the following details: name, aliases, date when portrait was taken, native place, year of birth, arrived in colony - ship and year, trade or occupation, religion, degree of education, height, weight (on committal, on discharge), colour of hair, colour of eyes, marks or special features, where and when tried, offence, sentence, remarks, previous convictions - where and when, offence, sentence.

This appears to be a series that was compiled/maintained in Sydney (at Darlinghurst and later Long Bay Gaols). It contains sheets for the major metropolitan gaols (Darlinghurst/Long Bay and Parramatta), and the major and minor country gaols. The primary order appears to be chronological by date photograph taken, but sheets are generally grouped in batches by gaol within each volume.

Each sheet bears a running number in the top l.h. corner that corresponds to the numbering for the particular gaol where the photograph was taken (i.e., the number for a particular prisoner will match that on the duplicate sheet for the same prisoner held in one or other of the primary series for the relevant gaol.

A second running number sequence has been superimposed on these records, recorded in blue crayon in the top r.h. corner. This appears to represent the ‘final’ order of these records, and the numbering appears to be generally complete. It is unclear why this consolidated set of sheets was brought together and kept in this particular way.

(3/6126-72). 47 vols.

Note:
This description, as amended, is extracted from Concise Guide to the State Archives of New South Wales, 3rd Edition 2000.