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Mugshots

Government Printing Office; NRS 4481, Parramatta [Gaol] [Department of Public Works] [no date]

Tracing NSW gaol inmates

This webinar shows you how to use the State Archives collection to trace your ancestors through the NSW prison system, uncovering their crimes and incarcerations

Gaol photograph of A. G. Scott, alias Captain Moonlight

Gaol inmates & prisoners photos index 1870-1930

Search over 52,000 mugshots from NSW prisons. Alongside the photos are details such as name, aliases, native place, year of birth, details of arrival in the colony, occupation, physical description, marks or special features, where and when tried, offence, and sentence

Mugshot of an elderly woman on a gaol admission form

Margaret Greenwood: a life of crime

This 1875 record contains a rare and revealing photograph of a former Imperial convict, a prisoner again in her old age

Gaol photo of Arthur Astill

Captured: Portraits of Crime, Arthur Astill

Arthur Astill, a 16 year old labourer from Orange in central west NSW, was photographed at Dubbo Gaol on 24 January 1893 while awaiting trial for murder

Full length police photo of man in suit and hat, standing in front of chair.
WW1

Sensational car chase

John Talbot Wright was arrested on 11 September 1920 after a sensational car chase through city streets

Two photos side by side, first showing seated man, second showing man standing, with hat on.
WW1

Returned from active service

In July 1921 James Arthur Banfield was arrested by Sydney police, photographed and charged on three counts of larceny

Two photos side by side; man seated and man standing, with hat on.
WW1

Fallen hero of Flanders

In 1922, petty criminal Arthur Ernest Noonan was arrested by Sydney police to face charges of conspiracy to defraud

A man stands looking at the camera with a large black bag next to him.
Underworld

The photographer’s bag

Little personal relics of the man behind the camera make many cameos in the Specials

Black and white photo of man's face with white writing on negative visible to one side.

The Hawk strikes again! 

During the 1920s, inner Sydney was overrun with gangsters looking to make a name for themselves – sometimes literally