Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3009 Private (Pte) George Glouis(or Glovis) Blee, 23rd Battalion, of Cowwarr, Vic. A farm labourer prior to enlistment, Pte Blee embarked with the 7th Reinforcements on HMAT Commonwealth from Melbourne on 26th November 1915 along with his brother 3020 Pte John Blee. Pte George Blee was killed in action in France and is commemorated on the VC Corner, Australian Cemetery Memorial at Fromelles. 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.