Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 4163 Private (Pte) George Alfred Ernest Croft (rear) and 4223 Pte John Charles Jennings. Pte Croft, a baker from Barker's Creek, Vic, prior to enlistment, and Pte Jennings, a quarryman from Harcourt, Victoria prior to enlistment, both embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. Pte Croft later transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion with the service number 4163A and returned to Australia on 28 March 1919. Pte Jennings also transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion and was appointed as Lance Corporal. Later wounded in the left knee he was evacuated to England and was still recovering when the Armistice was declared. He returned to Australia on 25 January 1919. Seated beside Jennings on the bench is a fox cub, a mascot of the 13th Reinforcements, which did not embark with the Reinforcements.This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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.Studio portrait of 4163 Private (Pte) George Alfred Ernest Croft (rear) and 4223 Pte John Charles Jennings. Pte Croft, a baker from Barker's Creek, Vic, prior to enlistment, and Pte Jennings, a quarryman from Harcourt, Victoria prior to enlistment, both embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. Pte Croft later transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion with the service number 4163A and returned to Australia on 28 March 1919. Pte Jennings also transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion and was appointed as Lance Corporal. Later wounded in the left knee he was evacuated to England and was still recovering when the Armistice was declared. He returned to Australia on 25 January 1919. Seated beside Jennings on the bench is a fox cub, a mascot of the 13th Reinforcements, which did not embark with the Reinforcements.This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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.