Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Accession Number DA13943
Collection type Photograph
Object type Black & white - Glass original half plate negative
Maker Darge Photographic Company
Place made Australia: Victoria, Melbourne, Broadmeadows
Date made c February 1916
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright

Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain

Public Domain Mark This item is in the Public Domain

Description

Studio portrait of W G Wilson (Lieut), believed to be Second Lieutenant William George Wilson, 24th Battalion from East Malvern, Victoria. A 32 year old school teacher prior to being appointed to the AIF on 19 June 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 10th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 7 March 1916 aboard HMAT Wiltshire (A18). After arriving in Egypt, he transferred to the 53rd Battalion and then proceeded to England with the 14th Brigade Training Battalion in May 1916. While serving with the training battalion, he proceeded with them to France where he was promoted to Lieutenant on 6 September 1916 and later re-joined the 53rd Battalion on 25 November 1916. After a period of illness with influenza, he transferred to the 61st Battalion from March to September 1917. He was promoted to Captain on 1 October 1917 and was wounded in action (gassed) on 10 March 1918. After receiving medical treatment, he returned to the 53rd Battalion seventeen days later. For displaying courage, great initiative and excellent leadership during an attack near Morlancourt, southwest of Albert, France on the night of 28/29 July 1918, he was awarded a Military Cross. Captain Wilson was killed in action on 30 September 1918 during an attack on the Hindenburg Line and is buried in the Tincourt Military Cemetery, east of Peronne, France. 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.

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