Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Michael O'Donnell, 14th Battalion from Gisborne, Victoria. A 26 year old soldier prior to enlisting in the AIF on 18 April 1915, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant on 19 April 1916. He embarked for overseas with the 20th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 7 September 1916 aboard HMAT Port Sydney (A15). Following further training in England, he proceeded to France where he joined the 14th Battalion on 16 February 1917. 2nd Lt O'Donnell was reported missing in action on 11 April 1917 and it was later confirmed that he had been killed in action that day near Bullecourt, France. He is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, France with others who have no known grave. [See also image DA16152.] This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the 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.