Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5041 Private (Pte) Kevin John Byrne, 14th Battalion. A chemistry student from Heidelberg, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Byrne embarked with the 16th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Anchises on 14 March 1916. On his arrival in Egypt he became ill with pneumonia and measles, the severity of which resulted in his return to Australia on 5 July 1916 where he was medically discharged. 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.