Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Gaskett A, believed to be 1481 Private (Pte) Albert James Gaskett, 9th Light Horse Regiment (LHR) from Nar Nar Goon, Victoria. A 19 year old farmer prior to enlisting on 9 November 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 12th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 23 November 1915 aboard HMAT Ceramic (A40). After arriving in Egypt, he joined the 9LHR and served with them defending the Suez Canal before they continued on through Palestine, Jerusalem, Jordan and Damascus. Pte Gaskett arrived back in Australia on 30 August 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.