Summary

Photograph of the Kodak Australasia factory in flood from the Yarra River in Abbotsford, 1952.

Taken from the roof of one of the Kodak factory buildings, the photograph shows the impact of the flood on the Kodak factory. Timber from the store under the Kodak carpenter's shop is floating on the perimeter of the site close to a fence. In the foreground is a tank full of water. This tank was used for silver recovery, and usually contained a slurry of silver nitrate.

The Yarra River was prone to flooding, and despite major works designed to manage water flow in the 1920s, the river still experienced a major flood in November 1934 and then again in 1952. Such floods caused damage to the Kodak factory and potentially washed away into the river some of the materials and chemicals that were used in the manufacturing process.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers, as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005, when the Melbourne manufacturing plant at Coburg closed down.

Description of Content

Photograph of a factory in flood from the adjacent river. Taken from the roof of one of the factory buildings, the photograph shows a tank full of water and timber floating on the perimeter of the site close to a fence.

Physical Description

Black and white gelatin photograph, printed on light weight paper, landscape format with a white border.

More Information