Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5145 Private (Pte) Ernest Charles Mancer, 7th Battalion. A labourer from Rochester, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Mancer embarked with the 16th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Suffolk on 1 April 1916. Later transferring to the 57th Battalion, he was evacuated to hospital suffering from trench feet. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and, on 12 December 1917, aged 20, he was killed in action and buried in the Derry Road No 2 Cemetery, Messines, Belgium. His brother, 2716 Pte Albert William Mancer, 60th Battalion, was killed in action on 12 May 1917. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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.