Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2377 Private (Pte) Robert Henry McPherson, 29th Battalion. A baker from Springhurst, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte McPherson embarked with the 4th Reinforcements from Melbourne on HMAT Anchises on 14 March 1916. Later transferring to the 46th Battalion and then to the 12th Machine Gun Battalion, he was evacuated to England suffering from severe myalgia. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and returned to Australia on 5 April 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.