Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of two 14th Battalion soldiers 5653 Private (Pte) Arthur Sydney Collins from North Fitzroy, Victoria and 5683 Pte William Thomas Hopley from North Carlton, Victoria. Both embarked for overseas on 4 May 1916 with the 18th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard HMAT Port Lincoln. Pte Collins was a 21 year old furnaceman when he enlisted in the AIF on 17 February 1916. He was wounded in action in France on 6 February 1917, recovered and rejoined his unit on 20 March 1917. Pte Collins was killed in action on 7 April 1917 near Noreuil, France and his name is inscribed on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France with others who have no known grave. Pte Hopley was a 20 year old labourer when he enlisted on 9 February 1916. He was killed in action on 8 August 1918 at Morcourt, France and is buried in the Cerisy-Gailly Military Cemetery, 5 miles east of Corbie, France. 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.