The Glass Negative That Led to a prisoner of war story

“Von Bertouch. 1917.”

After digitising the negative, I was curious to uncover who these people were. I began searching through public records, archives, newspapers, military records, electoral rolls, and family trees. What began as a simple investigation into an old photograph slowly unfolded into the story of a real Tasmanian family whose lives stretched across generations.

“A single glass negative preserved an entire family story for more than 100 years.”

During my research, I discovered another historic photograph online. Although it was not the same image as the glass plate negative I had found, the faces matched perfectly. This was the moment I realised I had identified the family within the portrait.

The image is believed to show Victor Von Bertouch, his wife Mary Myrtle Barker, and their children.


Von Bertouch Family

Victor Von Bertouch was born in Tanunda, South Australia, on 28 October 1874. He later moved to Tasmania, where he became a respected teacher and music instructor during the early 1900s.


Victor Von Bertouch (1874-1962)

Records from Tasmania’s early education system show Victor playing an important role in teacher training across the state. During the 1906 Hobart teachers’ instruction course, he taught music, singing, tonic sol-fa methods, geography, and lantern-slide projection techniques used for classroom teaching.

Historical records later described Victor as a pioneer in Tasmania of the “sol-fa” singing technique. He would eventually become headmaster of Wellington Square School in Launceston before later serving as an inspector of schools.

Victor’s contribution to Tasmanian education was considered significant enough for him to receive an entry within the 1924 publication Prominent Tasmanians.

Mary Myrtle Barker (1887-1973)

Victor married Mary Myrtle Barker in Hobart in 1910. Mary had been born in Fingal, Tasmania, in 1887. Together, the couple would go on to raise four sons:


Marcus Bradford Von Bertouch (1911–1943)


Angus Sophus Von Bertouch (1912–1988)


Roger Victor Von Bertouch (1914–1998)


Donald Ray Von Bertouch (1918–2010)

Based on the 1917 date of the negative, their eldest son Marcus would have been around six years old at the time the portrait was taken. Angus was around five, Roger was three, and Donald had not yet been born.

For a moment, the image simply captured a quiet Tasmanian family standing together in front of a camera more than a century ago.

“This was no longer just an old photograph. It was a moment captured before history changed their lives forever.”

The deeper I researched, the more emotional the story became.

Through military service records, I discovered that the young boy standing in the portrait — Marcus Bradford Von Bertouch — would later enlist in the Australian Army during World War II.


Marcus Bradford Von Bertouch (1911–1943)

Marcus enlisted on 23 July 1940 under service number QX17212 and served with the 2nd/10th Field Regiment.

Military records later revealed that Marcus became a prisoner of war after being captured by Japanese forces during the war. His records reference “D Force,” one of the Australian prisoner of war labour groups sent to Thailand under brutal wartime conditions.

D Force prisoners were among those forced to work on the Thailand Burma Railway, a railway constructed under horrific conditions during World War II.

On 20 October 1943, Marcus Bradford Von Bertouch died from illness in Thailand at just 32 years old.

He is buried at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.

Suddenly, the portrait felt completely different.

I was no longer looking at anonymous faces preserved on glass.

I was looking at a father, a mother and their children standing together years before war, loss and history would reshape their lives forever.

Watch their story come to life here