Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Portrait of 6264 Pte Albert Victor Fleming, 6th Battalion from Launceston, Tasmania. A 19 year old labourer prior to enlisting on 23 November 1914, he initially embarked for overseas with the service number 1380 in the Machine Gun Section of the 15th Battalion from Melbourne on 22 December 1914 aboard HMAT Ceramic (A40). While serving at Gallipoli, he was taken ill and evacuated to Egypt and then back to Australia, arriving on 4 December 1915. After returning to duty on 20 January 1916, he was allocated service number 6264 and embarked for overseas again with the 20th Reinforcements of the 6th Battalion from Melbourne on 11 September 1916 aboard HMAT Euripides (A14). Following further training in England, he joined the battalion in France on 18 January 1917. After being wounded in action on 3 May 1917, he was evacuated to England for medical treatment did not re-join his battalion until 22 November 1917. He was wounded in action for the second time on 23 August 1918 and after hospital treatment in France was able to re-join his battalion on 7 October 1918. Pte Fleming arrived back in Australia on 18 August 1919. 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.