Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Group portrait including 2101 Private (Pte) John Wade, 31st Battalion (position unknown). A public service messenger from Randwick, NSW prior to enlistment, Pte Wade embarked with the 3rd Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Ballarat on 18 February 1916. Later transferring to the 47th Battalion, he was wounded in action and evacuated to England. Following his recovery he joined the 13th Battalion and was promoted to Corporal. Following the Armistice he was accidently injured and, on 5 February 1919, aged 23, he succumbed to his injuries and was buried in the Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, France. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. In the 1930s, the Australian War Memorial purchased the original glass negatives from Algernon Darge, along with the photographers' notebooks. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative.