Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Portrait of Lieutenant (Lt) Stronach, Australian Flying Corps. A civil engineer from Perth, WA prior to enlistment, Lt William Keith Stronach enlisted in 1916 and qualified as a pilot but had his appointment terminated on 22 December 1916. Re-enlisting as an Aircraft Mechanic Class 2, he embarked for overseas service from Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles on 4 August 1917. Whilst undergoing further flying training in England he was killed when his aircraft experienced engine failure and crashed on 7 July 1918 at Leighterton, Gloucestershire. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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. The names are transcribed as they appear in the notebooks.