Summary
Colour photograph taken by Wolfgang Sievers of a reception area in the newly constructed Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd factory complex in Coburg, 1964.
The reception area was located on the first floor of building 8 which housed the Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd Head Offices and Sales and Marketing Division. Architect Harry Norris of H A & F L Norris & Associates, created the design for the new factory and individual buildings, while the building contract was awarded to Lewis Constructions Pty Ltd. Building 8 was a steel and concrete framed brick infill structure featuring large areas of window glass and a unique air conditioning system to deal with the high solar loads. It consisted of four sections: the main office building of five floors plus services basement and under car parking area; the services block that consisted of five floors plus basement and additional sixth floor and elevator room; the reception area which was a single floor at ground level with under-floor amenities area (later filled in as a marketing theatre and entertaining area) and the computing centre block which was a single floor at ground level with under floor access for computer services.
The still uncompleted Coburg factory complex was officially opened on 14 April 1961 by the Prime Minister, Robert G. Menzies with Dr. A Chapman, President of Eastman Kodak Company, in attendance. The complex was the national headquarters of Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd and its manufacture of silver halide photographic products. It replaced the Abbotsford factory where Kodak had been operating since 1908. The Abbotsford premises eventually closed in 1966.
Wolfgang Sievers is widely recognised as one of Australia's most significant architectural and industrial photographers. He pioneered a modernist photographic style influenced by the Bauhaus, and his work celebrates industry and the worker. Sievers was commissioned to document the newly constructed Kodak Coburg plant. He subsequently took several hundred black & white and colour images that highlighted the modern architectural and industrial design features of the complex.
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
Photograph of a reception area in an office building. There is a desk with a chair to the left and behind this is a grouping of four chairs around a coffee table. To the rear of the image is a stairwell with a planter featuring indoor plants situated in front of it. An elevator is behind the stairs.
Physical Description
Colour photograph printed on light weight paper, landscape format with a white border.
More Information
-
Collection Names
-
Collecting Areas
-
Acquisition Information
Donation from Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Ms. Kate Metcalf - Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, 2005
-
Acknowledgement
Courtesy of Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd.
-
Place & Date Depicted
Coburg, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1964
The latest possible date has been established for a group of internal and external, black and white and colour photographs of the Kodak factory complex in Coburg, from the invoice sent to Kodak by Sievers itemizing the commissioned photographs with a serial number 3562.The invoice is dated 28th August 1964 [see HT 20552]. A note in the invoice mentions the postponement of some external images until landscaping had been completed suggesting a later date, possibly 1965 [circa 1965, serial number 3613]. -
Organisation Depicted
Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Coburg, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1964
The latest possible date has been established for a group of internal and external, black and white and colour photographs of the Kodak factory complex in Coburg, from the invoice sent to Kodak by Sievers itemizing the commissioned photographs with a serial number 3562.The invoice is dated 28th August 1964 [see HT 20552]. A note in the invoice mentions the postponement of some external images until landscaping had been completed suggesting a later date, possibly 1965 [circa 1965, serial number 3613]. -
Photographer
Wolfgang G. Sievers AO, Coburg, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1964
-
Format
Photograph, Colour
-
Inscriptions
Back, stamp: 'WOLFGANG SIEVERS/Photographer/9 COLLINS ST., MELBOURNE C.1./TELEPHONE 63-4021' Back, handwritten, pencil: 'EC-3562-EE'
-
Classification
Manufacturing & industry, Photographic products, Factory interior views
-
Category
-
Discipline
-
Type of item
-
Image Dimensions - Photograph
122 mm (Width), 97 mm (Height)
-
References
Mortley, John S, The History of Kodak in Australia, Coburg, 1983 [Link 1] "A Brief Process Based Site History, Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Coburg Plant" Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, 2007 Pamphlet, "Milestones in the History of Kodak (Australasia) Pty. Ltd", Kodak (Australasia) Pty. Ltd., 1985 Leggio, Angeletta "A History of Australia's Kodak Manufacturing Plant", Topics in Photographic Preservation, Volume Twelve, 2007 Ennis, Helen "Intersections: Photography, History and the National Library of Australia", National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2004
-
Keywords
Buildings, Factories, Interior Design, Manufacturing Plants, Offices, Photography, Reception Desks, Making History - Kodak Collection