Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 19942 Sapper (Spr) Herbert Joseph Gilbert. A public servant from North Malvern, Victoria prior to enlistment, Spr Gilbert had previously been discharged due to flat feet. Following his re-enlistment he attended the AIF Signal School before embarking with the 32nd Reinforcements, 1st Divisional Signals Company from Sydney on HMAT Euripides on 31 October 1917. Following service in France he returned to Australia on 1 April 1919. On 3 August 1919 he passed away at the 11th Australian General Hospital, Caulfield, Victoria. Although the cause of his death is not specified it was accepted as being war related and he was buried in the Brighton General Cemetery, Victoria. 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.