Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 4530 Corporal (Cpl) George Warwick Griffin, 23rd Battalion (left) and 8012 Private (Pte) Francis John O’Connor, 18th Company, Army Service Corps. Cpl Griffin an accountant from East St Kilda, Victoria prior to enlistment, embarked with the rank of Sergeant with the 11th Reinforcements from Melbourne on RMS Malwa on 23 April 1916. Later promoted to Second Lieutenant, he was wounded in action and invalided to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and was promoted to Lieutenant. Wounded in action for the second time, he was again evacuated to England. Rejoining his unit once again, he was awarded the Military Cross. The citation reads in part “…this officer stands out for his high courage and best offensive spirit in his various hand to hand encounters with the enemy.” Pte O’Connor a warehouseman from Hawthorn, Victoria prior to enlistment, embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Ascanius on 10 November 1915. Later transferring to the 5th Division Motor Transport Company, he was promoted to Sergeant and returned to Australia on 20 July 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.