Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13060

Description

Studio portrait of 4335 Private (Pte) Bertie Watson. A labourer from Pomonal Via Stawell, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Watson embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. Later wounded in the right arm he was evacuated to England. After recovering he re-joined his battalion and was wounded in the left arm. Evacuated to England for the second time and again after recovering, he re-joined his battalion. He was wounded for the third occasion in the right tibia and fibula, Due to the severity of his wound he returned to Australia on 25 November 1917 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.

Details

Conflicts

• First World War, 1914-1918