Summary

Black and white, glass plate negative of the exterior of the Austral Laboratory at Yarra Grange, Abbotsford, circa 1896, viewed from across the street.

The name plate outside the front entrance states Baker & Rouse Limited as well as T. Baker & Co. The Baker & Rouse partnership was registered as a Limited company in May 1896.

This building was originally 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 is one of 5 glass negatives contained within a box. 11 negatives in total (5 glass plates and 6 cellulose acetate negatives in glassine bags). Negatives all feature exterior views of the Abbotsford factory, and the box they came in was marked 'Mr Collins: Factory'.

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. The front entrance has metal plaques on the bricks either side of the door, which say 'Baker & Rouse Limited', 'T. Baker', and 'office'

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin glass negative, full plate, portrait format

More Information