Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of two brothers. 2786 Private (Pte) Harold Davies, 7th Battalion and 3087 Pte Pugh George Davies 23rd Battalion. Pte Harold Davies, a labourer from Geelong West, Vic prior to enlistment, embarked with the 9th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard HMAT Star of Victoria on 10 September 1915. He was awarded the Military Medal on 21 September 1916 and returned to Australia on 13 March 1918. Pte Pugh Davies, a jeweller from Benalla, Vic prior to enlistment, served under the name George Davies and embarked with the 7th Reinforcements from Melbourne aboard HMAT Commonwealth on 26 November 1915. After transferring to the 60th Battalion he was initially reported as missing in action but a later Court of Enquiry determined that he had been killed in action on 19 July 1916 at Fleurbaix, France, aged 23. He is commemorated on the VC Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial , Fromelles, France. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had the 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. The notebooks contain brief details, usually a surname or unit name, for each negative.