Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2755 Private (Pte) Harold Milton Wise, 57th Battalion from Linton, Victoria. A 22 year old blacksmith's striker prior to enlisting on 11 July 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 2 October 1916 aboard HMAT Nestor (A71). Following further training in England, he joined the 57th Battalion in France on 7 February 1917. Pte Wise was killed in action near Messines, Belgium on 25 February 1918 and is buried in the La Plus Douve Farm Cemetery, Belgium. 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.