Albert William Savage

Albert Savage was born in Folkestone, England, in 1890, and lived in New Guinea before arriving in Australia.

He enlisted in the AIF in Sydney in April 1915, listing his occupation as photographer, which he had practised in New Guinea. Albert was initially rejected for service, his medical examination during enlistment considering him of ‘unfit eyesight’. In due course, he was drafted into the Australian Army Medical Corps and assigned to No. 3 Australian General Hospital (3AGH).

Albert sailed from Sydney onboard SS Mooltan on 15 May. His photographic record of 3AGH (now held in the Mitchell Library of the State Library of NSW) shows that he trained his lens on his unit well before it disembarked on Lemnos, photographing 3AGH staff aboard the Mooltan and during their lectures and instruction.

Albert worked as a radiology technician in the 3AGH X-ray department, where his photographic skills would have been highly useful. His album of photographs of the hospital on Lemnos indicates he had a keen documentary interest (and perhaps a sense of history) and was eager to record aspects of the base and the presence of fellow personnel.

Private Albert Savage was promoted to lance corporal in September – soon after his arrival on Lemnos – and then to corporal in 1917; later in the war he became acting sergeant. In April 1917, Albert was transferred from 3AGH to the Australian Flying Corps in Abbeville, France, where he worked as an aviation mechanic and stores clerk.

He returned to Australia in October 1919.