Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Arthur John Chilvers Muriel. A clergyman from Clifton Hill, Victoria prior to enlistment, 2nd Lt Muriel embarked with the 14th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Ballarat on 18 February 1916. Later promoted to Lieutenant he was briefly detached to the 13th Brigade Headquarters before re-joining his unit. Later transferring to the 4th Division Brigade Depot he was wounded in the mouth and head and admitted to hospital. Later joining the 46th Battalion he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions near Villers-Bretonneux on 1 May 1918. He was later recommended for a Bar to his Military Cross and for the Victoria Cross although neither was awarded. He returned to Australia on 20 May 1919. 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.