Darge Photographic Company collection of negatives Accession Number: DA13548

Description

Studio portrait of 4626 Private (Pte) Bernard White. A farm labourer from St Kilda, Victoria prior to enlistment, Pte White embarked with the 14th Reinforcements, 8th Battalion from Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles on 28 January 1916. He later transferred to the 58th Battalion and was invalided to England suffering from epididymitis. While still in England he was declared an illegal absentee and was subsequently court martialled and sentenced to one year’s detention. Six months of his sentence was later remitted and he re-joined his unit in France. Following the Armistice he again illegally absented himself in England. He returned to Australia on 5 July 1919 however, he was charged with gambling on the voyage home and subsequently forfeited 28 day’s pay. 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