Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Alexander McGregor, either 4265 Private (Pte) Alexander McGregor or 4270 Pte Alexander McGregor. 4265 Pte McGregor was a tailor from Brunswick, Victoria and embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 6th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. Later transferring to the 46th Battalion he was sentenced to 10 years penal servitude for desertion and 19 years penal servitude for mutiny. He returned to Australia on 6 October 1919 and the unexpired portion of his sentence was remitted. 4270 Pte McGregor was a labourer from Eurambeen, Victoria and embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion from Melbourne also on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1919. Later wounded in the chest he was evacuated to England. Also suffering from a punctured lung he returned to Australia on 31 January 1918 and was medically discharged. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit 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.