Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Wallis G E, believed to be 9324 Driver (Dvr) George Ernest Wallis, 4th Field Artillery Brigade from Windsor, Victoria. A 22 year old storeman prior to enlisting on 13 July 1915, he embarked for overseas with the 1st Reinforcements from Melbourne on 18 November 1915 aboard HMAT Wiltshire (A18). After arriving in Egypt, he joined the 5th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) and proceeded to France with them in March 1916. He joined 22 FAB in August 1916 and transferred back to 4 FAB in January 1917. After being hospitalised for illness in May 1917, he joined the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column in August 1917 on recovering. Pte Wallis was wounded in action on 27 September 1918 and died from his wounds on 4 October 1918. He is buried in the Doingt Military Cemetery, Peronne, France. [See also image DASEY1829.] 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.