Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of two AIF soldiers wearing white training hats. Identified on the left is 14506 Sapper Stanley Roy Barratt, 1st Australian Wireless Signal Squadron from Beulah, Victoria. A 22 year old clerk prior to enlisting on 17 June 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 3rd Reinforcements from Melbourne on 25 July 1916 aboard RMS Malwa. After serving in the Middle East, mostly in present day Iraq, he returned to Australia on 19 April 1919. Identified on the right is 2613 Private (Pte) Archibald Andrew Spittle, 60th Battalion from Birchip, Victoria. An 18 year old gentleman prior to enlisting on 20 June 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 20 October 1916 aboard HMAT Nestor. While serving on the Western Front, he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 17 February 1917 and to Corporal on 20 July 1917 but reverted to Private on 1 February 1918. After transferring to the 59th Battalion in September 1918, Pte Spittle returned to Australia on 5 August 1919. [See also image DA15855 for a portrait of Gunner Barratt and DA15857 for a portrait of Pte Spittle.] 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 1930's, 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.