Item MM 98572 Photograph - Kodak Australasia Ltd, 6th or 7th War Loan Bonds Appeal with Tank and Kodak Staff, Abbotsford, Victoria, 3 April 1918 - 31 July 1919

Summary

Kodak Australasia Limited employees are assembled in this image for a group portrait at a War Loan Bonds Appeal event at Kodak's factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, between 3 April 1918 and 31 July 1919, during World War I.

The photograph was taken outside the main Kodak office on Southampton Crescent in Abbotsford and shows Kodak staff with a mock model tank and cannon.

It is thought that this assembly was for either the 6th or 7th War Loan Bonds Appeals. Bonds for the 6th War Loan were issued from February 1918 but the associated tank appeal began in April 1918. Bonds for the 7th War Loan were first issued in August 1918 and finished at the end of July 1919. Mock model tanks and cannons travelled around suburbs and country towns in Victoria and NSW to promote sales of these War Loan bonds. Kodak was a strong contributor to wartime charity efforts.

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

A group photograph of male and female employees in front of the 'Kodak Australasia Limited' building. There is a tank to the left of the image amidst the group with people standing on it and one person inside it. To the right, there is a cannon, draped with the British Union Jack flags. There is signage, although obscured, on the cannon indicating the promotion of War Bonds. There is a large boomerang shaped sign at the left end of the cannon. There is a line of men and women standing in front of the cannon and some men sitting on the cannon.

Physical Description

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