Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of A Shanks, believed to be 2786 Private (Pte) Arthur Samuel Shanks, 24th Battalion from Brunswick, Victoria. A 22 year old packer prior to enlisting on 16 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 8th Battalion and went with them to France in March 1916. While serving on the Western Front, he played in the Band of the 8th Battalion [see image E01825]. Pte Shanks arrived back in Australia on 14 May 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.