Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3043 Private (Pte) Arthur Fielder, 8th Battalion. A native of Bishops Waltham, Hampshire Pte Fielder was a labourer from Footscray, Vic prior to enlistment. He embarked with the 10th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard HMAT Osterley on 29 September 1915. Initially transferring to the 59th Battalion, he subsequently transferred to the 15th Field Artillery Brigade and then the 6th Field Artillery Brigade where he was promoted to Sergeant. On 4 April 1918, aged 24, he died of wounds received in action at Bailleul, France and was buried in the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension. 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.