Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Outdoor group portrait of officers from the 14th Reinforcements of the 14th Battalion who sailed from Melbourne on 18 February 1916 aboard HMAT Ballarat (A70). Identified on the far left is Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Harold Vernon Walklate, from Caulfield, Victoria. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then Captain, was wounded in action in France in February 1917 and then killed in action in Belgium on 22 October 1917. [See image P05554.006.] Second from the left is probably 2nd Lt Peter McCallum from Birregurra, Victoria. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then wounded in action and taken prisoner of war at Bullecourt, France on 11 April 1917. After the war, he was released by the Germans, repatriated to England and then arrived back in Australia on 31 March 1919. Third from the left is probably 2nd Lt Harry Robinson McKinley from Upper Hawthorn, Victoria. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then died of wounds received at Bapaume, France on 11 April 1917. On the far right is 2nd Lt Arthur John Chilvers Muriel from Clifton Hill, Victoria. He was promoted to Lieutenant and then later awarded a Military Cross and Mentioned in Despatches. He returned to Australia and his appointment was terminated on 24 August 1919. [See image DA13460.] 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.