Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5371 Private (Pte) John James Ferguson. A boundary rider from Balmain, NSW prior to enlistment, Pte Ferguson had originally enlisted with the service number 1170 and had embarked for overseas service from Sydney with D Company, 18th Battalion on HMAT Ceramic on 25 June 1916. Following his arrival in Egypt he became ill and returned to Australia on 25 September 1915 and was medically discharged. Following his recovery he re-enlisted and re-embarked for overseas service with the 18th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Ayrshire on 3 July 1916. While serving in France he once more became ill and was evacuated to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his battalion and was wounded in action. On 12 August 1918 he succumbed to his wounds and was buried in the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, France. 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.