Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3960 Private (Pte) Francis Roland Whelan. Originally from Bristol, England, Pte Whelan was a farmer from Shepparton, Victoria prior to enlistment and embarked with the 12th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion from Adelaide on HMAT Ceramic on 23 November 1915. Later suffering from varicose veins he was evacuated to hospital. Following his recovery he transferred to the 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot and was promoted to Corporal. Subsequently re-joining the 8th Battalion he was killed in action on 14 April 1918, aged 20. Having no known grave he is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. 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 E01823.