Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5760 Acting Sergeant Albert Michael Rule, 6th Battalion from North Richmond, Victoria. A 23 year old clerk when he enlisted in the AIF on 31 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 18th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 3 July 1916 aboard HMAT Ayrshire. He was an Acting Sergeant for the voyage to England and reverted to the rank of Private on arrival and was then transferred to the 59th Battalion in France on 22 November 1916. After also serving with the 67th Battalion and being promoted to the rank of Corporal (Cpl) on 17 August 1917, he was then transferred to the 59th Battalion on 19 September 1917. Cpl Rule was killed in action on 4 July 1918 at Morlancourt, France and is buried in the Mericourt-L'Abbe Communal Cemetery Extension, 6 kilometres south east of Albert, France. [See also image DA15841 and DA15569.] 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 1930's, 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.