Summary

A monochrome, sepia toned photographic print of the exterior of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1940s (before 1948).

The photograph predominantly features the staff tennis court, with the fence running diagonally from the bottom left corner of the image to the right middle ground. To the left, outside the tennis court fence, looking east toward the Yarra River, there is a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, a rubbish bin and garden seats. This garden area was close to the canteen and was where staff took their breaks. The 'Yarra Grange' building is not visible but was to the right of the tennis court. The tall tower in the background with the water tank on top was part of the Paper Coating Building, where photographic paper was coated and photographic emulsions were manufactured. The tank visible on the top of the tower of this building contained distilled water which was used in manufacturing.

Yarra Grange was originally the home of Thomas Baker. In 1884 he established the Austral Plate Company on this site, where he made photographic plates.This company was later owned by Thomas Baker and John Rouse in 1894, under the partnership name Baker and 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.

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 tennis court, gardens and the exterior of a factory. The image features part of some factory buildings with two tall chimneys to the right in the background. The tennis court fence cuts diagonally from the bottom left hand corner to the right middle ground, with part of the court surface in the foreground. Outside the tennis court fence there is a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, a rubbish bin and garden seats.

Physical Description

Sepia toned photograph printed on medium weight, matte paper. Landscape format with a white border.

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