Summary

Photograph of the Kodak Australasia factory in flood at Abbotsford in 1934.

This photograph shows the interior of the Power House under water when the Yarra River was in flood. The Power House provided all of the power and refrigeration for the factory.

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 late November 1934. 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

The photograph shows generators under water. At left are large pipes and a light bulb hanging from the ceiling. To the right is a board of electricity meters, the doorway and pipes running across the brick wall. The DC generators are partially submerged and oil from the machinery is visible in slicks on the water.

Physical Description

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

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