Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3454 Private (Pte) Hugh Baker. A labourer from Northcote, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Baker embarked with the 8th Reinforcements, 21st Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. He later transferred to the 59th Battalion and was wounded in the chest. Due to the severity of his wound he returned to Australia in 21 December 1917 and was medically discharged. His brother, 3453 Pte Percy Baker, was killed in action on 19 July 1916 (See DA13154). 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.