“Money lost – little lost. Honour lost — much lost. Pluck lost – all lost”

― E. W. Hornung, Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman

These mugshot portraits – we’d call them pictures but their style demands more – are part of 2500 “special photographs” taken by New South Wales Police Department photographers between 1910 and 1930. These people frequented the cells of the Central Police Station, Sydney, Australia.

Their posture, styling and the tableau suggest an interesting modelling assignment. But their crimes, such as they were, ran the gamut from petty to heinous. We’ve included a few of their crimes to remind us that what we are looking are felons who have done people harm.

Via Sydney Living Museums, Rare Historical Photos