Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives

Studio portrait of 2744 Thomas Daniel Kearney, 14th Battalion. A miner from Preston, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Kearney embarked with the 8th Reinforcements from Melbourne on SS Makarini on 15 September 1915. Later promoted to Acting Sergeant, he reverted to the rank of Private at his own request. Subsequently gassed, he was evacuated to England. Following his recovery he rejoined his unit and returned to Australia on 28 March 1918. 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.