Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Captain (Capt) George Hinchcliffe Crowther, 39th Battalion. A manufacturer’s agent from East Malvern, Victoria prior to enlistment, Capt Crowther embarked with C Company from Melbourne on HMAT Ascanius on 27 May 1916. Later transferring to the 10th Infantry Brigade, he was awarded the Military Cross “For exceptionally good staff work extending over a period of six months.” He returned to Australia on 28 September 1919. 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.