Summary

Colour photograph of an interior view of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria,1955.

The Abbotsford factory was initially the site of the Austral Plate Company, created by Thomas Baker, a pharmaceutical chemist, in 1884. After Baker went into partnership with accountant, John Rouse, to develop the photographic manufacturing company, Baker and Rouse Pty Ltd, they proposed a merger with Eastman Kodak in 1907. In 1908, Australian Kodak Limited was formed and evolved to become what is known today as Kodak Australasia. The Abbotsford site remained the base for the operations of Kodak Australasia until the late 1950s.

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

Image consists of a processing room in the factory. There are four metal containers, three are on a conveyor belt that is angled in the photograph and moving in an upward direction. There are brown glass bottles and canisters with yellow labels on a bench next to the conveyor belt. A calendar with the date 'April 1955" is pinned to the wall and a black Bakelite telephone is to the left of the image.

Physical Description

COlour photograph printed on Kodak light weight paper, landscape format with a white border.

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