Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Dellar O L, believed to be 2637 Private (Pte) Oswald Leslie Dellar, 22nd Battalion from South Melbourne, Victoria. A 21 year old sleeper hewer prior to enlisting on 24 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 27 October 1915 aboard HMAT Ulysses (A38). After arriving in Egypt, he transferred to the 7th Battalion and proceeded to France with them in March 1916. He was taken ill and in December 1916 was evacuated to England for medical treatment. On recovery, he remained in England and in July 1918 transferred to the Provost Corps. Pte Dellar arrived back in Australia on 10 November 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.