Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 3026 Private (Pte) George Henry Bruce. A compositor from West Richmond, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Bruce embarked with the rank of Acting Sergeant with the 7th Reinforcements, 23rd Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Commonwealth on 26 November 1915. Later promoted to Sergeant he transferred to the 58th Battalion. On 15 July 1916 he was killed in action aged 23 and was buried in the Rue-Petillon Military Cemetery, Fleurbaix, France. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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.