Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 119 Sapper (Spr) Thomas Groom, No. 1 Mining Corps. Originally from Norfolk, England, Spr Groom was a platelayer from Rockhampton, Queensland prior to enlistment and embarked with No. 1 Company from Sydney on HMAT Ulysses on 20 February 1916. Later transferring to the 1st Tunnelling Company, he was wounded in action. Following his recovery he developed rheumatism and returned to Australia on 7 June 1918 and was medically discharged. 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.