Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3160 Private John Vernon Larkin, 24th Battalion, from Ballarat, Victoria. He was a 23 year old clerk when he enlisted in the AIF on 20 July 1915 and embarked for overseas with the 7th Reinforcements from Melbourne on 26 November 1915 aboard HMAT Commonwealth. While serving with the 8th Battalion in France, he was wounded in action on 26 July 1916 and evacuated to England for medical treatment. After returning to his battalion in France in November 1916, he was promoted to Lance Corporal on 17 February 1917, to Sergeant on 4 February 1918 and to Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) on 20 May 1918. 2nd Lt Larkin was killed in action on 9 August 1918 and buried in the Rosieres Communal Cemetery Extension, 32 kilometres east of Amiens, France. [See also image DA12701.] 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 1930's, 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.