Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13100

Description

Studio portrait of 4139 Private John Oscar Baensch. A motor conductor from West Ballarat, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte Baensch embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, 14th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes on 29 December 1915. Later wounded in the left hip he was invalided to England. After recovering he re-joined his battalion and was appointed Lance Corporal. He was later gassed and admitted to hospital. On his recovery he was promoted to Corporal and returned to Australia on 5 April 1919. 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