Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph, view looking south-west from the cooling tower of Building 11, Power House, Kodak factory, Coburg, May 1959.

In this image, apart from Building 11, the entire active building site can be seen. From the foreground to the left of the image, the dominating feature is the Power House services gantry, with its newly insulated (lagged) pipes following the lines of internal roadways around to each building. The Power House appears to have been completed (this was the first leg of three major runs of the gantry system around the complex). To the right of image, the second leg of the services gantry following the north side of Biggs Road has been completed as far as the take-off to Building 2 Emulsion Making.

At the back and to the left of the site is Building 7, Testing, appears to be completed externally, along with Electricity Sub-station #2 at its north end. Only the roofs of single-storey Building 5, Sheet Film and Building 4 Roll Film, are visible in the rear. In the centre and right of the site are the single and multi-storey sections of Building 2, Emulsion Making, and Building 3, Emulsion Coating. Their flyover connection at the 4th floor level appears to have been completed externally, except for a service building being erected on the penthouse level of Building 3. All of the aforementioned buildings would have been in various stages of being fitted out internally, although Buildings 4, 5 and 7 would have been the most advanced towards completion.

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 is a landscape view of the overall active construction site looking towards the south-west and down from the cooling tower of the Building 11 Power House. All buildings being constructed are in view (apart from the Power House). Builders' huts and equipment can be seen scattered around the site while Pentridge Goal and residential housing estates are visible in the distance. The first two legs of the Power House services gantry can be seen following the lines of internal roadways around to each building.

Physical Description

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

More Information