Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Accession Number DA12196
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 17 November 1915
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 3029 Sergeant (Sgt) Wilfred John Branch, 21st Battalion (later 2nd Pioneer Battalion). A farmer from Lara, Victoria, prior to enlistment on 10 July 1915 Private Branch embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT Wiltshire on 18 November 1915 for Egypt. He was transferred to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion on 12 March 1916 and, later that month, the unit relocated to the Western Front, France. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 13 November 1916 and to Lance Sergeant on 5 June 1918. He was wounded in action (gassed) in the Somme area, France, on 17 July 1918 and was evacuated for treatment before rejoining his regiment in September 1918. He was promoted to Sergeant on 5 November 1918 and returned to Australia in July 1919 for discharge on 27 August 1919. 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.