Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5181 Private John Orr, 14th Battalion from North Wonthaggi, Victoria. A 19 year old engineer prior to enlisting on 22 January 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 16th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 14 March 1916 aboard HMAT Anchises. While serving on the Western Front with the 46th Battalion, he was wounded in action in June 1918 and evacuated to England for medical treatment. A months later, he returned to his unit in France and continued to serve until he arrived back in Australia on 2 March 1919 for demobilisation. 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.