Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2636 Private (Pte) John Samuel Donaldson, 21st Battalion. A carpenter from Kew, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Donaldson embarked with the 6th Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Moldavia on 5 October 1915. Later wounded in action, he was evacuated to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and was promoted to Corporal. Subsequently reported as missing in action in Belgium, a court of enquiry determined that he had been killed in action on 9 October 1917, aged 21. Having no known grave, he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. 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.