Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2427 Private (Pte) Edward Hayes. A labourer from Leongatha, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Hayes embarked with the 5th Reinforcements, 58th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Shropshire on 25 September 1916. Later wounded in action he was evacuated to hospital. Following his recovery he rejoined his battalion and was wounded in action for the second time. On 7 April 1917 he succumbed to his wounds and was buried in the St Sever Cemetery Extension, Haute-Normandie, France. 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.