Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 10547 Gunner (Gnr) Francis Loudon Montgarret and a small boy dressed in a military uniform. A labourer from Footscray, Victoria prior to enlistment, Gnr Montgarret embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 1st Divisional Ammunition Column from Melbourne on HMAT Afric on 5 January 1916. Later transferring to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade he was evacuated to hospital after contracting measles. Following his recovery he-re-joined his original unit and was subsequently evacuated to England suffering from laryngitis. Later suffering from pneumonia he returned to Australia on 24 December 1918. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit 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.