Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 1790 Private (Pte) William John Beasley and his brother 1885 Pte Andrew James Beasley (positions unknown). Pte William Beasley, a labourer from Boinka, Victoria had previously enlisted with the 3rd Light Horse Brigade Train, but had been discharged as medically unfit. Later re-enlisting, he embarked with the 2nd Reinforcements, 38th Battalion from Melbourne on RMS Orontes on 16 August 1916. Whilst serving in France he was killed in action on 28 May 1917, aged 27, and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. Pte Andrew Beasley, a labourer from Rainbow, Victoria prior to enlistment embarked with the 3rd Reinforcements 58th battalion on HMAT Ajana on 8 July 1916. Later transferring to the 57th Battalion he contracted pleurisy and, due to the severity of this, returned to Australia on 24 August 1918 and was medically discharged. 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.