Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA09326

Description

Studio portrait of Captain (Capt) Brown. The photographer's notebook reads 'Cohn L R [symbol?] Capt Brown'. An L R Cohn may have ordered a portrait of a Captain Brown. (See also DA09108 which also refers to an L Cohn). Capt Brown is probably David Dorey Browne, who enlisted as a Captain with the Australian Army Medical Corps (AAMC) on 23 December 1916. He had qualified as medical practitioner from Melbourne University in September 1916. He embarked from Sydney with the AAMC General Reinforcements, aboard HMAT Anchises on 24 January 1917. Capt Browne served in France and Belgium before being invalided back to Australia on 31 January 1918. This portrait was taken in 1915 indicating Capt Browne was already serving in some capacity prior to his enlistment for overseas service. On his enlistment papers he answered the question on current or previous service with “Camp Broadmeadows”. 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.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918