Caroline Simpson Collection

Mug shot of a man identified only as Johns alias Mede. No details known. Early 1920s, presumably Central Police Station, Sydney

New South Wales. Police Dept.

[192?]

photographic glass plate negative: b&w; 4.75 x 6.5 in

Emulsion side, ink: 12. JOHNS. @ MEDE. Emulsion side, pencil: Johns als Mede

Central Police Station (Sydney, N.S.W.)
flat caps
suits (clothing)
ties
police detainees and suspects
mug shots

Part of an archive of forensic photography created between 1912 and 1964. This image is one of a series of 22 negatives contained in box no. 11-20
This picture is one of a series of around 2500 "special photographs" taken by New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. 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." [Peter Doyle with Caleb Williams: 'City of shadows: Sydney police photographs 1912-1948'; Historic Houses Trust, 2005]

Justice & Police Museum ; FP07_0012_015

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.

Picture

56015