Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of C O Wilson, believed to be 4940 Private (Pte) Cecil Oscar Wilson, 7th Battalion from Hinksons Siding, via Kerang, Victoria. A 21 year old farm labourer prior to enlisting on 26 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 15th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 7 March 1916 aboard HMAT Wiltshire (A18). After arriving in Egypt, he transferred to the 24th Field Artillery Brigade and went with them to France in June 1916. He joined the 11th Field Artillery Brigade in January 1917 and on 2 June 1918 was wounded in action but remained on duty. Pte Wilson arrived back in Australia on 8 June 1919. [His brother Lieutenant William George Wilson, 38th Battalion arrived back in Australia on 29 June 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.