Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 55472 Private (Pte) Frederick James Alexander Ward. A labourer from Unley, SA prior to enlistment, Pte Ward had originally enlisted on 11 September 1914 having been previously been rejected for 12 months due to an overdose of cigarette smoking. He was due to embark for overseas with service number 1187 with the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital from Melbourne on HMAT Kyarra on 5 Dec 1914 but had been discharged as medically unfit. Following his re-enlistment he embarked with the service number 233 with A Company, 27th Battalion from Adelaide on HMAT Geelong on 31 May 1915 however after his arrival in Egypt he was returned to Australia as being of bad character and was discharged. After he enlisted for the third time he embarked with the rank of Acting Sergeant with the 6th Victorian Reinforcements from Sydney on HMAT Borda on 17 July 1918. Subsequently reverting to the rank of Private he was allotted to the 6th Battalion but contracted influenza and was hospitalized. He was still recovering when the Armistice was declared and following service with the Australian Army Ordnance Corps and the Australian Army Pay Corps he returned to Australia on 25 October 1919 and was medically discharged. 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.