Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, 1945-1949.

This photograph shows the front of Yarra Grange cottage, also known as 'the Cottage' or 'the old Cottage', and its gardens. The gardens feature manicured lawns and mature trees and shrubs, as well as park benches and footpaths. The gardens originally extended to the Yarra River on the eastern boundary of the property, and included a tennis court. The tennis court and most of the gardens were later lost when the Plate Department was constructed by Kodak around the 1940s.

Yarra Grange was the original home of Thomas Baker. He was the founder of the Austral Plate Company, which was a precursor of Kodak Australasia. The north east corner of Yarra Grange was used as the Kodak foremen's lunch room, with Mrs Green as cook, until the 1950s when the foremen's lunch room was constructed over the canteen.

The Yarra Grange cottage housed the Kodak directors' dining room during the time that the photograph was taken. Gladys Clarke was the chef in the directors' dining room, and her husband Henry Clarke worked in silver recovery and was later a gardener at Kodak. The cottage was also home to Gladys Clarke, Henry and their son Henry, who was known as Harry. They lived in the 'Yarra Grange' house on the Kodak factory site from 1938, when Harry was 12 years old, until 1952, when he was 26 years old.

The Coating Technical section, led by Mr Les Williams, occupied the south east section of Yarra Grange cottage from the early 1950s until the Coburg factory was built in 1960-61.

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

This photograph shows the front of a cottage and its gardens. The gardens feature manicured lawns and mature trees and shrubs, as well as park benches and footpaths.

Physical Description

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

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