Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 5034 Private (Pte) Ernest Edward Holt, 24th Battalion from Wangaratta, Victoria. An 18 year old monumental mason with service in the Militia prior to enlisting in the AIF on 4 January 1916, he embarked for overseas with the 13th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 28 July 1916 aboard HMAT Themistocles (A32). Following further training in England, he proceeded to France in November but was taken ill and did not join the 24th Battalion until 12 February 1917. Pte Holt was killed in action at Montbrehain on 5 October 1918 and is buried in the Calvaire 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. See also DA14565A.