Item MM 155457 Photograph - Baker & Rouse Pty Ltd, Austral Laboratory at Yarra Grange, Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1896-1908

Summary

Framed photograph of the exterior of the Austral Laboratory at Yarra Grange, Abbotsford, circa 1896-1908, with caption.

The building has Baker & Rouse Limited nameplate as well as T. Baker & Co, so is dated after 1896 when the Baker & Rouse partnership was registered as a Limited company.

This building was part of the Austral Plate Company photographic plate factory site. Thomas Baker, a pharmaceutical chemist, established this business on his residential property, Yarra Grange in 1884. In 1886 the new Austral Laboratory building was completed. In 1887, under the partnership name Baker and Rouse, this company was owned by Thomas Baker and accountant, John Rouse. In 1908 the company and factory site was bought and operated by Kodak. In the late 1950s Kodak moved from Abbotsford to a new factory site at Coburg on the northern outskirts of Melbourne.

This image 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.

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.

Description of Content

Three storey brick building fenced off with wooden picket fence. To the left is a smaller residence and to the right is vacant land. In the far distance are trees. An unpaved road runs across the front of the building. In the foreground is a fenced in garden.

Physical Description

Framed silver gelatin photograph mounted on grey card with text printed beneath, portrait format.