Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1669 Private (Pte) Archibald Charles Brown, 58th Battalion. A farmer from Stawell, Victoria, prior to enlistment on 3 March 1916, he embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Euripides on 4 April 1916 for Alexandria. Pte Brown embarked for England for training before joining his battalion on the Western Front, France in September 1916. During the battalion's tour in the line at Polygon Wood during the last week of September 1917, he was recommended for an immediate award of the Military Medal (MM) for his display of energy and bravery as a stretcher bearer under very heavy shell fire. Pte Brown was killed in action near Ypres, Belgium on 15 October 1917. He was aged 21 years. His award of the MM was confirmed on 31 October 1917. 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.