Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph, view looking north-east from the roof of Building 7, Testing, and featuring Building 9, Amenities, in the foreground and Building 10, Personnel and Medical, further back, Kodak factory, Coburg, July 1960

The two-storied Building 9 consisted of a steel reinforced concrete structure forming the basement and ground floors with steel framed and brick walled structures for the above ground level features. The natural slope of the land allowed for direct external access to the building from ground level on the west and north faces, and from a lower ground level on the south and east faces. In this view, the reinforced concrete ground floor pour was about half completed above the finished basement floor.

When completed Building 9 housed the Canteen Services Centre on the ground floor, and a large open space room with parquetry dance floor and small stage which was normally set up with chairs and tables as the Canteen. The basement floor housed an employees' shop of company products at discounted prices, a small cinema room, a branch of the NAB, Camera Club rooms, washroom facilities, and later a credit union office.

The single storey Building 10 was a simple flat roofed steel framed structure on a reinforced concrete floor with brick walls on the east and west ends, and glass and timber composite feature walls on the north and south sides. The open spaced interior allowed for internal walls to be light weight and non-load-bearing that could be easily altered to suit changing requirements of these departments. In this view the concrete floor and bare steel frame with aluminium roof had been completed. Building 10 housed the Medical Centre, with a full-time physician and three nursing sisters and a part-time physiotherapist. It also featured a Personnel Centre including payroll, recruitment and other staff relations, as well as a small Purchasing Section supporting the factory.

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 after the manufacturing plant at Coburg had closed down the year before.

Description of Content

View of a construction site. In the left foreground is sloping cleared land with building materials scattered in piles. Mid-ground is a building under construction. Workmen can be seen pouring concrete into formwork over steel beams forming the ground floor level, with the aid of two mobile jib cranes. At left in the background is the Powerhouse building, and in front of this is a car park with workers' vehicles. In the background is suburbia and a primary school to the right.

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin photograph printed on light weight paper with holes punched along the left edge, landscape format.

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