Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of Corporal L J O'Toole who is probably 6828 Private (Pte) Lawrence Joseph O'Toole (real name Leo Eugene O'Toole) 6th Battalion from Melbourne, Victoria. Pte O'Toole enlisted on 4 March 1915 using his brother's name (Lawrence Joseph) and claiming to be an 18 year old clerk. He embarked for overseas with the service number 2195 with the 6th Reinforcements of the 14th Battalion from Melbourne on 17 June 1915 aboard HMAT Wandilla (A62). After arriving in Egypt, he was taken ill and returned to Australia in November 1915. He re-embarked for overseas with service number 6828 with the 22nd Reinforcements of the 6th Battalion from Melbourne on 25 October 1916 aboard HMAT Ulysses (A38). Following further training in England, he proceeded to France where he joined the 6th Battalion on 11 May 1917. Pte O'Toole was killed in action at Aubigny, France on 10 August 1918 and is buried in the Fouquescourt British Cemetery, France. 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.