Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of W Marchant, probably 4833 Private (Pte) Walter Samuel Richard Marchant. A grocer from Warracknabeal, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Marchant embarked with the 15th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Wiltshire on 7 March 1916. Later serving with the 60th Battalion he was wounded in action and evacuated to England. Following his recovery he re-joined the 8th Battalion and was wounded in action for the second time. Once again evacuated to England he returned to Australia on 20 November 1918 and was medically discharged. 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.