Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13370

Description

Studio group portrait of Captain (Capt) Richard Shaw de Courcy Bennett (standing), Capt James McCusker (likely seated on right) and another unidentified officer. Capt McCusker was originally from Ireland and was a trained doctor of medicine. In May 1915 he was appointed as an Honorary Captain in charge of the sick on HMAT Ballarat, for the trip from Alexandria to Sydney. He enlisted on arrival in Australia on 15 August 1915 and joined the Australian Army Medical Services (AAMC), believing he would go on active service immediately. He applied for a commission on 31 August 1915. He worked in the Venereal Hospital at Langwarrin, Vic, until January 1916. During the last three months of this period he was appointed as Senior Medical Officer of the camp. In February 1916 he joined the 38th Battalion in Bendigo and was appointed as Captain on 1 March 1916. He embarked aboard HMAT Runic in Melbourne on 20 June 1916. On 28 July 1917 he transferred to the 2nd Light Horse Regiment and on 31 December 1917 he transferred to the 2nd Australian General Hospital. He applied for discharge in London and it was granted on 13 August 1919. This is one of a series of photographs taken by the Darge Photographic Company which had a 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