Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1518 Private (Pte) Franz Leslie Kaaden, 8th Light Horse Regiment from Northcote, Victoria. He was an 18 year old labourer when he enlisted in the AIF on 12 July 1915 and embarked for overseas with the 12th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 21 October 1915 aboard SS Hawkes Bay. Pte Kaaden served in France with the 24th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) and the 11th FAB before being wounded in action on 5 April 1918. After being evacuated to England for medical treatment, he was returned to Australia on 23 August 1919. Pte Kaaden drowned as a result of a boat capsizing at Chelsea, Victoria on 21 December 1919 and is commemorated in the Victoria Garden of Remembrance at the Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria with others who have no known grave. Pte Kaaden's brother, 6517 Pte Robert Anton Kaaden also served and was killed in action on 4 October 1917 in Belgium. [See image DA16512] 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.