Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of R C Pilven, believed to be 3888 Acting Sergeant Reginald Charles Pilven, 24th Battalion from Hawthorn, Victoria. A 22 year old postman prior to enlisting on 1 December 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 9th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 8 February 1916 aboard HMAT Warilda (A69). After arriving in Egypt, he proceeded to France in March to join the 24th Battalion and then reverted to the rank of Private. He was wounded in action near Pozieres, France on 22 August 1916 and after receiving medical treatment, returned to his unit five days later. While serving in the Ypres area, he was killed in action on 9 October 1917 and buried in the Passchendaele New British Cemetery, Belgium. 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.