Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Group portrait of two AIF soldiers taken prior to embarking for overseas service. Identified on the left is 1942 Private (Pte) Alfred James Frichot, 60th Battalion from Ballan, Victoria. A 21 year old farmer when he enlisted on 9 December 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 3rd Reinforcements from Melbourne on 4 May 1916 aboard HMAT Port Lincoln. Pte Frichot returned to Australia on 10 March 1919. On the right is probably 2040 Pte Thomas Vincent Johnston, 60th Battalion from Broadford, Victoria. A 25 year old jockey when he enlisted on 15 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with Pte Frichot. He was married on 10 March 1918 in England and returned to Australia with his wife on 11 September 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.