Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3941 Private (Pte) Joseph William Patrick Sheeran. A warehouseman from Malvern, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Sheerin embarked with the 12th Reinforcements, 6th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Ceramic on 23 November 1915. He was later invalided to England suffering from tonsillitis and following his recovery he re-joined his battalion. He was later awarded the Military Medal and received a personal expression of appreciation from the Army Corps Commander. He was subsequently promoted to Lance Corporal and evacuated to England where he was diagnosed as suffering from defective vision. He returned to Australia on 20 December 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.