Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Portrait of “motor cyclist Copl Baillieu” seated on an Indian motorcycle at camp. An accountant and keen motorcyclist from East St Kilda prior to enlistment, 154 Acting Corporal Reginald Francis Baillieu embarked with B Flight, No. 1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, from Melbourne aboard HMAT Orsova (A67) on 16 March 1916. Baillieu commenced service as a motorcycle despatch rider and in August 1916 undertook aviation training. He was appointed Flying Officer in October 1916. During his service Baillieu attained the rank of Captain and in 1917 was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. “Accompanied by his observer, he descended to the rescue of a pilot who had been forced to land and who had set his machine on fire. He landed safely on difficult ground, and, in spite of the close proximity of the enemy, succeeded in rescuing the pilot and in carrying off his two passengers under a close and heavy rifle fire.'' Captain Baillieu returned to Australia, medically unfit for further service, on 21 March 1918. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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.