Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 7478 Private (Pte) Albert Edward Bridge who served as Albert James Edwards. A labourer from Carlton, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Bridge embarked with the 25th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion as part of the Sportsmen’s 1000 from Melbourne on HMAT Nestor on 21 November 1917. On 26 August 1918, aged 18, he was killed in action and buried in the Heath Cemetery, Harbonnieres, France. It was later revealed that he had actually been serving in the RAN as a crew member of HMAS Encounter when he enlisted. 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.