Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13469

Description

Studio portrait of 4575 Private (Pte) Albert Purches. A drover from Euston, NSW prior to enlistment, Pte Purches had previously been rejected due to varicose veins. After successfully enlisting he embarked with the 14th Reinforcements, 5th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles on 28 January 1916. He later served with the 60th Battalion before joining the 25th Depot Unit of Supply. He was then hospitalised suffering from tonsillitis and after recovering he was invalided to England suffering from pneumonia. After recovering he returned to France with the 2nd Divisional Supply Column. Later contracting dysentery and developing scabies he was again invalided to England. He was still recovering when the Armistice was declared and he returned to Australia on 20 April 1919. While at seas he again contracted pneumonia and after arriving in Melbourne he was discharged as medically unfit. 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