The original of this image takes the form of an extremely damaged cabinet card that was nevertheless both preserved and cherished by a single family member belonging to one of the subject’s many children. I was granted permission to make a copy of this unique artifact back in 2019.

It has been shared since then only between a small number of researchers and other family members. My hope was to make it available to the wider public at the time of the completion of my book on James Dyson’s life and that of his family in Western Australia — It would have greatly assisted in the promotion of the same.

However, my restoration of this image is now beginning to appear on certain genealogy websites despite my request to those I shared it with, not to make it public for the time being.

Now the only known genuine likeness of James Dyson (1810-1888), Van Diemen’s Land Convict, early free settler to Western Australia, Perth City Councillor, builder, merchant, and general all-round ratbag has absconded, I post an official version, as it were.

Progress on Dyson’s Swamp (the book), is now postponed indefinitely until further notice.