Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph taken by Wolfgang Sievers features the Graphic Arts darkroom at the Kodak Technical Service Centre at the Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd factory complex in Coburg, 1964.

At left is a Littlejohn Camera and at right, processing facilities capable of handling films up to 24" x 20".

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

Image of a photographic dark room. At right is a bench workspace with sinks and equipment beneath the bench. To the left is a large piece of camera equipment. The room features fluorescent strip lighting as well as hanging spot safelights. There is a clock positioned on the rear wall.

Physical Description

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

More Information

  • Collection Names

    Kodak Heritage Collection, Wolfgang Sievers Collection

  • Collecting Areas

    Images & Image Making, Working Life & Trades

  • 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, Black & White

  • Inscriptions

    Back, stamp: 'WOLFGANG SIEVERS/Photographer/9 COLLINS ST., MELBOURNE C.1./TELEPHONE 63-4023' Back, handwritten, pencil: '3562 AE'

  • Classification

    Manufacturing & industry, Photographic products, Factory interior views

  • Category

    History & Technology

  • Discipline

    Technology

  • Type of item

    Image

  • Image Dimensions - Photograph

    247 mm (Width), 199 mm (Height)

  • References

    Beale, N, The History of Kodak in Australia, Coburg, no date. [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 "Kodak Opens New Technical Service Centre", Industrial Photography & Commercial Camera, May/June, 1964, pp.10-11

  • Keywords

    Cameras, Manufacturing Plants, Photographic Equipment, Photographic Studios, Photography, Making History - Kodak Collection, Safelights