Summary

Two black and white, silver gelatin, stereographic photographs mounted on brown card. They feature the exterior of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1940s.

At the left of the image is the maintenance workshops, behind this is the second Power House chimney, thought to have been built in the 1930s. The Power House provided all of the power and refrigeration for the Kodak factory. To the right is the tower and water storage tank of 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. In the foreground, separated by a timber fence, are the staff gardens, featuring lawn, trees and garden beds. The gardens were built over by 1955.

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

The images feature the exterior of a factory and gardens. In the foreground of the photograph is a stretch of lawn with trees and garden beds aligned with a timber fence running diagonally across the image. In the background, the factory buildings include a single storey structure with a pitched roof, a chimney and a tower with a water tank.

Physical Description

Two black and white, silver gelatin stereographic photographs mounted on brown card.

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