Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1885 Private (Pte) Allan McMaster, 38th Battalion. A labourer from Horsham, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte McMaster embarked along with his brother 1886 Pte Ewan McMaster with the 2nd Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Orontes on 14 August 1916. On 13 July 1917, aged 20, he was killed in action at Messines Ridge, Belgium and was buried in the Kandahar Farm Cemetery, Belgium. Pte Ewan McMaster was later awarded the Military Medal (MM) and returned to Australia on 30 April 1919. Two other brothers, 7141 Pte Alexander McMaster and 1881 Pte Duncan McMaster were also awarded the Military Medal and returned to Australia. 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..