New Underworld Exhibition at the Port Arthur Historic Site

Media release ― Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority

New Underworld Exhibition at the Port Arthur Historic Site

The World Heritage-listed Port Arthur Historic Site is opening a new exhibition – UNDERWORLD: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties – on Thursday 18 February 2021.

Presented by The Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (PAHSMA), UNDERWORLD: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties is a travelling exhibition from Sydney Living Museums. The exhibition will be on display at Port Arthur from 18 February until the end of May. Sponsored by Spirit of Tasmania, the exhibition features a selection of intriguing criminal portraits of police suspects, most never before released to the public.

The 1920s was a golden age that emerged from the ruins of the war. However, lurking under the surface was a world of gangs and guns, vice and violence. In the dark side of the 1920s, police struggled to keep up with the emerging criminal classes and photography became a key tool in fighting crime. It allowed police to document criminals who changed their names more often than they changed their clothes.

The images, sourced from a forgotten collection of glass plate negatives, were never intended for public display, and are an oddity among international criminal portraiture. This deviation from policing protocol creates images suffused with the subject’s personality and provides an intriguing contrast to the Port Arthur carte de visites convict portraits taken some five decades earlier.

Jane Harrington, PAHSMA Acting Chief Executive Officer, said, “The connection between the closing years of Port Arthur as a convict settlement and the next generations of criminals bridges an extraordinary era of Australian history and the development of the new nation. We are grateful for the support provided by Spirit of Tasmania to bring this exhibition to Tasmania. We know touring audiences arriving on Spirit of Tasmania will travel further into regional areas and we feel this fascinating exhibition will be a strong drawcard for the Tasman region.”

UNDERWORLD: Mugshots from the Roaring Twenties will be on display at the Port Arthur Asylum from Thursday 18 February to Friday 30 May. The exhibition is open daily from 11:00am to 4:00pm and is free of charge for Port Arthur Historic Site ticket holders. All entry tickets must be booked in advance online at www.portarthur.org.au or by phone 1800 659 101.

Ethel Violet May Benn, 9 April 1923. Suspected of break, enter and steal,Special Photograph number 1188, NSW Police Forensic Photography Archive, Sydney Living Museums.