Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3031 Private (Pte) Robert Sawers, 31st Battalion from Burra Gate, NSW. A 28 year old labourer prior to enlisting on 3 February 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 5th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 14 March 1916 aboard HMAT Anchises. He served with the 31st Battalion in France and Belgium and was killed during the defence of Amiens, France on 22 July 1918. Pte Sawers is buried in the Ribemont Communal Cemetery Extension, France. [See also image DA14329] Robert's younger brother, 3033 Pte Arthur Peter Sawer enlisted with the 31st Battalion on the same day and fought with Robert. Arthur returned to Australia in April 1919. [See image DA14332] 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. The names are transcribed as they appear in the notebooks.