Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3036 Sergeant (Sgt) Walter Westlake Bull, 22nd Battalion at left with his brother 3036 Private (Pte) Victor Westlake Bull, 23rd Battalion. Walter, a cartage contractor and Victor a fruit preserver both of Clifton Hill, Victoria, prior to enlistment, and both embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Commonwealth on 26 November 1915 for Egypt. Walter was transferred to the 57th Battalion on 23 February 1916 and promoted to Corporal on 27 February 1916 and then to Sergeant on 23 May 1916. His unit relocated to the Western Front, France, during June 1916. Sgt Bull was killed in action near Fleurbaix, France, on 20 July 1916. He was aged 21 years. (See also H05616) Victor, was transferred to the 58th Battalion on 15 March 1916 and his unit was relocated to the Western Front, France in June 1916. While on leave in England during January 1917 he was hospitalised with severe trench feet. He was transferred to No 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital (Southall) in August 1917 where he served for the remainder of the war before returning to Australia for discharge on 18 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 a unit name, for each negative.