Summary
Black and white silver gelatin photograph of a streetscape featuring Kodak Australasia shopfront and building on Queen Street, Brisbane, in the 1920s.
The signage on the side of the building reads Kodak Australasia incorporating Baker & Rouse Prop. Ltd. In 1884 Thomas Baker, a registered pharmaceutical chemist born in 1854, began making photographic plates at his home 'Yarra Grange' by the Yarra River in Abbotsford, Melbourne. He produced these plates under the name the Austral Plate Company. In 1887 Baker formed a partnership with John J Rouse, and in 1908 their highly successful business merged with Eastman Kodak. The resulting company ultimately evolved into Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd.
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 streetscape featuring shop fronts. The tallest building is the Kodak building featuring signage at the side, "KODAK (Australasia) LTD. INCORPORATING BAKER & ROUSE Prop. LTD.". To the right is a retail shop selling Singer Sewing Machines. Next to this is A.G Littleboy Jeweller and a printers and stationers, "The Hodgson Press". There are people standing on the footpath in front of the shops. Some people are standing on a small balcony of the Kodak building. There is a bicycle parked in front of a shop.
Physical Description
Black and white silver gelatin photograph printed on lightweight paper, portrait format.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, Ms. Kate Metcalf - Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, 2005
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Acknowledgement
Courtesy of Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd.
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Place & Date Depicted
Queen Street, Brisbane, Greater Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, circa 1927
Two of the men in the photograph are wearing straw boater hats, popular as day wear during the 1920s. -
Organisation Depicted
Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd - Queensland, Queen Street, Brisbane, Greater Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, circa 1927
Two of the men in the photograph are wearing straw boater hats, popular as day wear during the 1920s. -
Format
Photograph, Black & White
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Inscriptions
Back, text, handwritten, blue pen: 'DATE OF PHOTO UNKNOWN/KNOWN THAT "LITTLEBOY JEWLER" (sic) WAS STILL THERE ABOUT 1927-1930/? BUILDING R/H SIDE OLD A.B.C. BANK (AUST BANK OF COMMERCE)/NOTE NAME ON SIDE OF BLDG (REF. BAKER & ROUSE)/ORIGINAL IMPRTERS OF/PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIALS/PRODUCTS/WHOM KODAK BOUGHT OUT/TOOK OVER?/J. GIBBONS KODAK/(1938-1977)'
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Image Dimensions - Photograph
164 mm (Width), 213 mm (Height)
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References
Lowe, T (1974). "The Thomas Baker, Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Medical Research Institute: The First Fifty Years", Trustees of the Institute, Melbourne, pp.9-10. Davies, A & Stanbury, P (1986). "The Mechanical Eye in Australia Photography 1841-1900", Oxford University Press, p. 54. Beale, N, (no date). "History of Kodak", in Possession of Kodak Australia, Melbourne.
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Keywords
Buildings, Photography, Retailing, Shopfronts, Streetscapes, Making History - Kodak Collection
