Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 6377 Private (Pte) Herbert Sheedy. A blacksmith prior to enlistment, Pte Sheedy had previously enlisted as a signaller with the 6th Light Horse Regiment but had been declared a deserter. Later re-enlisting he embarked with the 18th Reinforcements, 24th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Hororata on 23 November 1916. While serving on the Western front he became ill and returned to Australia on 27 September 1917 and was medically discharged. Following his recovery he re-enlisted and served with the Base Supply Depot at Broadmeadows and was discharged on 31 March 1919. 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..