Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3581 Private (Pte) John Black Pyers and an unidentified soldier possibly his brother 3585 Pte Stuart McIntyre Pyers. An engine driver from Mildura, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Pyers embarked along with his brother with the 8th Reinforcements, 24th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Afric on 5 January 1916. Later wounded in action he was evacuated to England where his right leg was amputated. He returned to Australia on 17 July 1917 and was medically discharged. Pte Stuart Pyers was killed in action on 28 July 1916. 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.