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Ah Chong, 11 July 1928, Central cells. An Ah Chong is listed in the Police Gazette of 21 June 1922, convicted of two charges of receiving, for which he received 12 months hard labour. No listing is found in the Police Gazette for Ah Chong in 1928, when this Drugs Bureau photograph was taken.
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Title:
Mug shot of Ah Chong, 11 July 1928, Central Police Station, Sydney.
Creator:
New South Wales. Police Dept. Drugs Bureau.
Date:
July 1928
Format:
glass plate negative : b&w ; 12 x 16.5 cm.
Inscription:
Emulsion Side: Ink: AH. CHONG. 11.7.28 / D.62
Subject:
Central Police Station (Sydney, N.S.W.)
police cells
police detainees and suspects
men's clothing and accessories
Description:
Special Photograph no. D62 (Drug Bureau photograph). An 'Ah Chong' is listed in the NSW Police Gazette of 21 June 1922, convicted of two charges of receiving, for which he received 12 months hard labour. No listing is found in the Police Gazette for Ah Chong in 1928, when this photograph was taken. An 'Ah Chong' appears in the NSW Criminal Register some years later, but the picture accompanying that entry shows a different man to the one shown here.
This picture is one of a series of around 2500 "special photographs" taken by New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1960. These "special photographs" were mostly taken in the cells at the Central Police Station, Sydney and are, as curator Peter Doyle explains, of "men and women recently plucked from the street, often still animated by the dramas surrounding their apprehension". Doyle suggests that, compared with the subjects of prison mug shots, "the subjects of the Special Photographs seem to have been allowed - perhaps invited - to position and compose themselves for the camera as they liked. Their photographic identity thus seems constructed out of a potent alchemy of inborn disposition, personal history, learned habits and idiosyncrasies, chosen personal style (haircut, clothing, accessories) and physical characteristics."
Published in:
Peter Doyle with Caleb Williams City of shadows: Sydney police photographs 1912-1948 Historic Houses Trust, 2005, pp.216, 237.
Exhibited in:
City of Shadows at the Justice & Police Museum, Sydney, November 2005-January 2007.
Source:
Justice & Police Museum ; FP07_0007_014
Rights:
You may save or print this image for research and study. If you wish to use it for any other purposes, you must contact Museums of History NSW to request permission.
Material Type:
Picture
Record number:
31030
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