Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3151 Private (Pte) Thomas James Leehane. A motor mechanic from Charlton, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Leehane embarked with the 7th Reinforcements, 22nd Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Commonwealth on 26 November 1915. He later transferred to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion and on 17 March 1917, aged 23, he was killed in action and buried in the Martinpuich British Cemetery, Picardie France. 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. See also DA12603.