Summary
Colour photograph of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1962.
This photograph features the 1886 Austral Laboratory building on Southhampton Crescent, on the Kodak factory site. This building was originally part of the Austral Plate Company, photographic plate factory site. Thomas Baker, a pharmaceutical chemist, originally established this business on his residential property, Yarra Grange in 1884. In 1894, under the partnership name Baker and Rouse, the company was owned by Thomas Baker and accountant, John Rouse. In the first decade of the 20th century the company and factory site was bought and operated by Kodak. In the late 1950s Kodak moved from Abbotsford to a new factory site at Coburg on the northern outskirts of Melbourne.
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 photograph features a multi-storey red brick building with ivy on parts of it and the words "AUSTRAL LABORATORY 1886" on the facade. One of the windows is broken. The building stands behind a wire fence. A white 'No Standing' traffic control sign with red text, on a yellow pole, is in front of the fence.
Physical Description
Colour photograph, printed on medium weight Kodak paper, landscape format with a white border.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Ms. Kate Metcalf - Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, 2005
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Acknowledgement
Courtesy of Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd.
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Place & Date Depicted
Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Southampton Crescent, Abbotsford, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1962
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Organisation Depicted
Austral Plate Company, Abbotsford, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1962
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Person Depicted
Mr Thomas Baker - Austral Plate Company, Abbotsford, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1962
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Place & Date Collected
Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Abbotsford, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, circa 1962
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Format
Photograph, Colour
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Inscriptions
Back, handwritten, blue ink: 'Kodak Abbotsford / about, 1962' Back, stamped, red ink: 'THIS IS A / KODACOLOR PRINT / MADE BY KODAK' Back, printed, black ink, on diagonal in 8 places: 'KODAK PAPER'
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Classification
Manufacturing & industry, Photographic products, Factory exterior views
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Image Dimensions - Photograph
126 mm (Width), 87 mm (Height)
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Keywords
Factories, Fences, Manufacturing Plants, Photography, Signs, Making History - Kodak Collection