Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 4068 Private (Pte) Ernest Harold Robson. Originally from Hull, England, Pte Robson was a farmer from Melbourne, Victoria prior to enlistment and embarked with the 12th Reinforcements, 12th Battalion from Melbourne on 24 November 1915 aboard HMAT Orontes. Later posted as missing in action it was subsequently discovered that he had been killed in action at Pozieres, France between 23 and 26 July 1916 and was believed to have been buried in the Pozieres British Cemetery. In 1936 the grave of an unknown soldier was discovered at a point north-east of Pozieres. The remains were later determined to be those of Pte Robson and were re-interred in the London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, France. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a permit 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.