Two studio portraits of Nyoongar people. Perth (or Fremantle?), Western Australia, 1871-72.

Two albumen print photographs, in uniform carte de visite format, 105 x 62 mm (mounts); versos with the lithographic imprint in violet of the photographer: ‘By Appointment to His Excellency / Alfred Chopin Artist Photographer / Perth & Fremantle / West Australia’, decorated with an Advance Australia coat of arms; one of the prints has excellent clarity, while the other has lost some contrast; small loss to top corner of one of the mounts, both mounts with light handling wear.

These important portraits of Nyoongar people were taken by ex-convict Alfred Chopin (1846-1902), probably soon after he started to work as a professional photographer in Perth in June 1871.

The first shows a group of three men, a young woman and an adolescent girl, all wearing mission blankets. One of the standing men holds a woomera and spears, the other a spear; the girl holds a digging stick; the standing woman is cradling her infant under the blanket – clearly discernible is a tiny hand emerging from underneath.

The second photograph shows a group of six Nyoongar: four men, and an adolescent boy and girl. They are wearing a mixture of cast-off European clothing and traditional animal-skin cloaks. The men are displaying their woomeras, spears and a boomerang; the boy is wearing what appears to be a metal badge or insignia of some type, which is suspended on a long string worn around his neck.

In Manchester in December 1865, Alfred Chopin and his brother William had both been sentenced to transportation to Western Australia: Alfred, found guilty of receiving stolen goods, was sentenced to 10 years, while William, convicted of fraud, was sentenced to twenty. The brothers arrived at Fremantle together on the Norwood in July 1867. In July 1869, however, Alfred received a free pardon, after it was shown that he had been falsely accused of his crime. After operating a modest confectionery shop in Perth for a short time, he was able to purchase some photographic equipment, and in June 1871 he began to advertise himself as a commercial photographer, operating in what was no doubt a makeshift studio on the premises of the City Restaurant in St. Georges Terrace, producing ambrotypes and carte de visite portraits. By the middle of 1872 he had set up a more permanent studio in Howick Street, opposite the Freemasons’ Hall. Throughout this first year at least, he was making regular visits to Fremantle to take his ‘likenesses’, as well as offering a range of photographs for sale at his studio. After he was commissioned to take some photographs by the Governor of Western Australia, Sir Frederick Weld, Chopin added the phrase ‘By Appointment to His Excellency’ to his carte de visite back mark.