Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, 1934.

This photograph shows the Yarra River in flood in 1934. Taken from the northern bank of the river, the photograph looks across trees submerged in the water to the Kodak factory in the background. From left, the Kodak Power House with its chimney can be seen. The Power House provided all of the power and refrigeration for the factory. Adjacent to this 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. There are 2 people standing on the right hand edge of the roof of the white building in the foreground, inspecting the flood damage.

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 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 a flooded landscape, with trees partially submerged in the foreground of the image and in the background are factory buildings, also partially submerged. Two chimneys stand to the left of a central tower with a water tank on top. To the rear of this is a multi-storeyed brick building. The lower lying buildings in front of the tower and chimneys, are the most obscured by the water level.

Physical Description

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

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