Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2455 Private (Pte) James John Ware, 22nd Battalion. A student from Burwood, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Ware embarked with the rank of Acting Corporal with the 5th Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Osterley on 29 September 1915. Later reverting to the rank of Private at his own request, he was wounded in action. Subsequently promoted to Sergeant, he returned to Australia on 9 March 1919. 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.