Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph of the exterior of the Kodak factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, 1940-1955.

The photograph features a wide view of the factory site looking west from across the Yarra River, with the factory in the mid-ground, river bank, trees and river in the foreground, and suburban Melbourne in the background. The building closest to the trees in the foreground was used to manufacture silver nitrate for photographic products, by dissolving silver in concentrated nitric acid. The tanks are related to the silver recovery process. Behind this are the maintenance workshops. The building behind this at left with the water tank on top is part of the Power House. To the right, with the two chimneys is the Power House. This building provided all of the power and refrigeration for the factory. The shorter chimney was the original Power House chimney, which was removed by 1955. To the right of this with the water tank on top of the tower is the Paper Coating Building where photographic paper was coated and photographic emulsions were manufactured. The tank visible on the top of the tower of this building contained distilled water which was used in manufacturing. The tall building at the rear left, is the Number 6, Film Coating Building, where film products were made, and where the 'finishing' process and distribution took place. The tall building at the far right is the Kodachrome Building, which was constructed in the 1940s. Film was processed and paper prints were made here, and the research lab was also housed here. The smaller building in front of this is the Glass Plate Building, where glass plates were made. In the large garden area to the right, seats are visible for staff to sit on during their breaks.

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 the exterior of a factory site. This photograph features a wide view of the factory site from across a river with the factory in the mid-ground; river, wide river bank and trees in the foreground; and a suburban city in the background. Factory buildings feature chimneys, water tanks and multi-storey buildings. Seats are visible in the gardens within the factory site, as is a water storage tank.

Physical Description

Black and white gelatin photographic proof print, printed on medium weight paper, landscape format.

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