A.G. Adams signed his name 'Athol'. It was written to his mother Adah Emilie Sherwood who often had her mail directed to the Oriental Hotel in Collins Street Melbourne as she travelled frequently.
I'm posting this post card a little earlier than scheduled as it has some points relevant to this early part of the story. The postcard appears to have been sent from Albury on 21 October 1914 - but the photo on the other side is of the Broadmedows camp.
You will note on the top left of the postcard is the name of the photographic studio in Melbourne 'Darge'. These photographs were taken on glass negatives by Algernon Darge and his Darge Photographic Company which had the concession to take photographs at the Broadmeadows and Seymour army camps during the First World War. 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. Information can sometimes be found through the Australian War Memorial if the photograph's identification number can be found and information was recorded at the time. Unfortunately this was not the case with this post-card/photo.
This is the front of the post-card by Darge studio. The photograph's identification number is 1491 (bottom right).
Sergeant Athol G. Adams is third from left in the back row with the slouch hat. Perhaps the men have assembled outside their bell tent - there were usually 15-16 men per tent. Were these some of the men in 'F' company?
If you look carefully you can see the mascot. A small wallaby or kangaroo sitting on the lap of the soldier in front of Athol (middle front row). A least one of these kangaroos went with the troops to Egypt - was it this little fellow?
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