An interesting article about 20 recently discovered photographs of prisoners at Port Arthur circa 1870s, and NLA publication about these men and the photographs.
It is not entirely clear from the article where these images were/are located - perhaps NLA?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/22/3145179.htm?section=entertainment
They are the men and women whose blood, sweat and progeny built colonial Australia.
While their names and offences were meticulously recorded by British officials, most of their faces are a mystery to us now.
But author and historian Edwin Barnard unearthed a stash of small, yellowing photographs that put faces to some of those names.
He has written about the lives behind these convict mug shots in his book Exiled, published by the National Library of Australia.
"The beauty of these 20 men in the book is that these are nobody in particular," said Mr Barnard.
"They did nothing spectacular; no brave acts, no great feats, no wonderful endings to their lives.
"They're just average men and I think that's part of the charm ... that here's the real story of the real convicts."
A few dozen convicts were photographed at Port Arthur in the 1870s - just as photography was coming into fashion, and just as the penal system was on its last gasp.
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