Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1967 Acting Sergeant (A/Sgt) George Alva Allison. A State School teacher from Talbot, Victoria prior to enlistment, A/Sgt Allison embarked with the 3rd Reinforcements, 29th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Ballarat on 18 February 1916. Following his arrival in England he was posted to the 8th Training Battalion and was promoted to Acting Company Sergeant-Major. Later reverting to the rank of Corporal he re-joined his battalion and was appointed Temporary Sergeant and wounded in the head. Subsequently promoted to Sergeant he transferred to the 32nd Battalion and returned to Australia on 10 April 1919. On the voyage home he was admitted to the ship’s hospital suffering from catarrhal jaundice. 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.