Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1787 Private (Pte) William Henry Barmby (left) and 1906 Pte Charles Shone, 38th Battalion. Pte Barmby, a jockey from Dimboola, Victoria prior to enlistment, and Pte Shone, a butcher from Nhill, Victoria prior to enlistment both embarked with the 2nd Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Orontes on 16 August 1916. On arrival in England, Pte Barmby was promoted to Lance Corporal. Later developing heart problems, he returned to Australia on 17 March 1917 and was medically discharged. Pte Shone, also promoted to Lance Corporal, was killed in action at Messines on 7 June 1917 and, having no known grave, is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. His brother 6883 Pte Richard Clarence Shone was killed in action on 5 October 1918. 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.