FUNCTION AND CONTENT

The index comprises 103 type-written folios stapled together. The title page has 'Register of Personal Photographs. Part I. Index' followed by notes on arrangement. Entries are in three columns headed 'Number', 'Surname' (surnames are in upper case letters), 'Christian-name' (lower case). Arrangement is by initial letter of surname, then by photograph number, with some entries out of numerical order at the end of each letter. The second and later folios for each letter are numbered 2, 3 etc. The names are overwhelmingly German, with a large number of Slavonic names.

It is believed that the photographs controlled by this series were taken by soldiers of the 2 Military District, Commonwealth Military Forces as part of the administration of the Liverpool Camp, NSW for internees during World War I.  It is unknown what the initial purpose of the photographs was, it has been suggested that the photographs were taken so that port authorities could be alerted in the event of a camp break-out. This may be possible, however, the extant photograph albums suggest that the photograph albums were collated much later by a central office.  It may be possible that the album in CRS D3597 was created using the original photographs, and duplicates for the other albums were made from the glass plate negatives. It appears that between the time the original photographs were made and the time the photograph albums were created, several of the glass plate negatives were broken, which accounts for the missing photographs in the albums (CRS P1, K565, SP421/4), which frequently occur in runs of three photographs (the number of photographs which fitted onto a glass plate negative). 

After the Liverpool Camp was closed in 1919, the records of the camp were transferred to the Chief of General Staff, Army Headquarters, Melbourne. It is believed that the photographs, or their negatives, were later transferred to the Investigation Branch of the Attorney General's Department (CA 747), to assist them in the administration of the Immigration Act 1920 (although it is not clear when the records were transferred).  It is believed that the photograph albums were collated by the Investigation Branch at this point and sent to the Collectors of Customs in each State.

USING THE SERIES

The names in the index and the photographs in the photograph album are cross-referenced by an identification number.  Thus it is possible to find the photograph of an internee if you have a name or a photograph number, and it is possible to ascertain the identity of an internee from the identification number on the photograph.

SERIES HISTORY

Attached to the front of the index to P1 is a memorandum from the Director of the Investigation Branch, dated 18 October 1921, directing State offices of the Investigation Branch, to whom copies of the album and index were sent, to use them as "the basis of the identification photographic records in your district". 

The index to P1 was received enclosed in a Tasmanian Commonwealth envel3ope (Box 24A, G.P.O., Hobart) carrying a note of the contents and a file number, T17973, which relates to CRS P1436.