Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3689 Private (Pte) George Russell Hambidge. A law student from Grange, SA prior to enlistment, Pte Hambidge was a prolific writer of prose and verse and originally served as a Driver with the Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train at Swan Island before transferring to the AIF after his unit was disbanded. He embarked for overseas service with the 10th Reinforcements, 46th Battalion on HMAT Nestor on 28 February 1918. On 8 August 1918, aged 21, he died of wounds received in action and was buried in the Longueau British Cemetery, Picardie, France. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit 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.