Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3303 Private (Pte) Charles Lawrence Wilkinson, 24th Battalion from Carlton, Victoria. A 28 year old railway employee prior to enlisting on 14 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 7th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 26 November 1915 aboard HMAT Commonwealth. Following further training in Egypt, he joined the 8th Battalion and deployed to France in March 1916. After being wounded in action at Pozieres, France on 25 July 1916, he recovered and rejoined his battalion on 1 September 1916. He was Mentioned in Despatches for participation in a very successful raid on the enemy trenches on 30 September 1916 and was then wounded in action a second time on 6 November 1916 at Bernafay, France. After being evacuated to England for medical treatment, he rejoined his battalion on 14 August 1917 and was then killed in action on 20 September 1917 at Dickebusch, Belgium. Pte Wilkinson is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Belgium with others who have no known grave. 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.