Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of S R Ayers, believed to be 3452 Private (Pte) Stanley Richard Ayres, 24th Battalion from West Drouin, Victoria. A 20 year old labourer prior to enlisting on 14 July 1915, he embarked for overseas service with the 8th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard HMAT Afric (A19) on 5 January 1916. Following further training in Egypt, he transferred to the 8th Battalion and proceeded to France with them in March 1916. Shortly after arriving, he was hospitalised in France with an injured knee and then later took ill and was transferred to England for medical treatment in December 1916. He did not return to the 8th Battalion in France until May 1918 and then on 9 August 1918 he was wounded in action near Harbonnieres and the next day died from his wounds. He is buried in the Vignacourt British Cemetery, 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.