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 roof of one of the Kodak factory buildings, the photograph shows the impact of the flood on the Kodak factory. In the centre of the image is an aerial view of a tank full of water. This tank was used for silver recovery, and usually contained a slurry of silver nitrate. Two men stand on the rim of the tank looking at the debris lying in the water, while in the foreground of the image, another man stands at the corner of two buildings. To the right and lower section of the image are the rooftops of two factory buildings.

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

Aerial photograph of a river in flood. At the centre of the image is a tank filled with water, with two men standing on the rim looking into the water. To the right and foreground of the image are the roofs of the factory buildings and a man is standing at the corner of two adjacent buildings. There is debris, such as timer, in the river, collecting alongside the buildings.

Physical Description

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

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