Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2661 Private (Pte) Leslie James Fritsch, 21st Battalion. A farm labourer from Warrnambool, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Fritsch embarked with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Moldavia on 5 October 1915. Later transferring to the 7th Battalion, he developed diabetes and returned to Australia on 11 April 1916. On 16 July 1916, aged 20, he succumbed to his illness and was buried in the Brighton General Cemetery, Brighton, Victoria. 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.