Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph featuring the east ends of Buildings 3, Emulsion Coating, on the right and Building 4, Roll Film, on the left, Kodak factory, Coburg, late 1959.

At this stage of construction both buildings had been completed externally, along with the services gantry located on the side of the roadway running past the east ends of these buildings. Roll Film operations had been transferred from the old Abbotsford factory and production was underway in Building 4. Garden beds, lawns and shrubs had been planted around this building to complete the surrounding environment. Emulsion delivery systems and the Coating Track were being installed in Building 3 and would take another sixteen months before the Track would be finally commissioned.

Building 3 consisted of a multi-storey section which is just visible top right of picture, and the single storey west wing with skillion roofed sections, around the north and south of the multi-storey structure. The south wall of the west wing had windows along its length allowing a daylight working environment for the roll store which occupied the western end, and the plant and equipment surrounding the Coating Track further east. The two loading docks were for incoming uncoated base rolls from overseas, and for outgoing coated rolls in special containers (called tiffins) to the finishing departments.The skillion roofed section in the foreground had a secure entrance to the Monitor Room, and a temporary opening for access to the plant and equipment being installed around the Coating Station.

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

This streetscape looking west features the windows, loading docks and secure entrance on the south wall of Building 3 on the right and the manicured lawns and shrubs surrounding the north front of Building 4 on the left, with the services gantry running across the ends of each building.

Physical Description

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

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