Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2606 Private (Pte) Charles Samuel Hall, 8th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion. A market gardener of Vermont, Victoria, prior to enlistment he embarked from Melbourne aboard SS Makarini on 15 September 1915 for Egypt and Gallipoli. His unit was withdrawn to Egypt in January 1916 before relocating to the Western Front, France, in June 1916. Pte Hall was appointed a Lance Corporal in September 1916 and was later transferred to the 1st ANZAC Corps School as a Temporary Sergeant. Sgt Hall was hospitalised with TB in May 1917 and was evacuated to England where he died of this illness on 22 June 1917. He was aged 24 years. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the 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.