Stunning Vintage Photos from Sydney’s Police Museum
Recently, the French photography/arts blog, La boite verte, posted a breathtaking series of vintage photographs of dusty, down-on-their-luck Antipodeans passing reproachfully through their country’s penal system back in the day.
They’re pictures from the Sydney Justice & Police Museum archives. Some of the documented lawbreakers seem sad, ashamed, or a bit mentally unhinged. Other portrait subjects remain defiantly cheerful– chins up and shoulders back as if to say “So it goes. I do what I have to do.” All of these images are a mule-kick to the heart.
Many more after the jump. Peruse the full series here. Via m1k3y, thanks.
EDIT/ADDENDUM: The original text of this post has been corrected. These are “photographs of commitment” from the Syndey J&P Museum’s archive (1912 – 1964). “The portraits were taken on glass plate negatives and analyzed with high resolution to show the quality of the photograph of the police.” [via]
Related Coilhouse posts:
- Vintage Circus Portraiture by Frederick W. Glasier
- Russia in Color, A Century Ago
- Bad Girl of a Bygone Era
- The Tarnished Beauties of Blackwell
- Civil War Veteran and His Wife
Was this gent perhaps arrested for cross-dressing? Such a surreal, timeless photo…
January 19th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
These are in gorgeous condition, and beautiful.
A great many photographs of varied ages have passed through my hands, and rarely were they this well shot, and this well preserved.
They must have had a very skilled photographer.
January 19th, 2011 at 9:56 pm
My god, these are beautiful. Number 11! Holy crap!
January 19th, 2011 at 11:05 pm
WOW all I can say is…WOW
January 20th, 2011 at 7:15 am
Wow, these are amazing and powerful. Thanks for posting them!!!
January 20th, 2011 at 9:16 am
some of these have some incredible stories behind them, such as this lady:
http://collection.hht.net.au/firsthhtpictures/fullRecordPicture.jsp?recnoListAttr=recnoList&recno=31246
who passed as a man for nearly 20 years, married twice, and was arrested on suspicion of murdering the first wife.
thanks for sharing these, they are stunning!
January 20th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
@Ana Oh wow, that’s an incredible find. Thank YOU.
January 21st, 2011 at 9:22 am
[…] Gorgeous vintage photography from the Sydney Police Museum Share and Enjoy:FacebookTwitterLinkedInDiggStumbleUpondel.icio.usRedditGoogle […]
January 23rd, 2011 at 2:40 pm
According to the original archive site the guy in the skirt is listed thusly:
Back view of man (presumably a detective) in a tulle skirt behind a stage curtain. Found in an envelope marked ‘Tivoli dressing room fire, 1945’.
January 25th, 2011 at 1:43 am
These photos were published a few years ago in a fantastic book, City of Shadows. http://www.amazon.com/City-Shadows-Sydney-Photographs-1912-1948/dp/1876991208