Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 6796A Private (Pte) Vincent Anthony Chevalier. Originally from Langham, Scotland, Pte Chevalier was a farm labourer from Brunswick, Victoria prior to enlistment and embarked with the 20th Reinforcements, 23rd Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Nestor on 21 November 1917. Later suffering from trench fever, he was evacuated to hospital. Following his recovery he rejoined his battalion. Subsequently gassed he was evacuated to England. Due to the severity of the gas poisoning he returned to Australia on 16 January 1919 and was medically discharged. 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.