Summary

Black and white glass plate negative of the view along Southampton Crescent, Abbotsford, showing the exterior of the Kodak Australasia factory buildings in the 1930s. There is perforated white tape applied to the non-emulsion side of the image as a mask, indicating the position of a print.

Yarra Grange was originally the home of Thomas Baker. In 1884 he established the Austral Plate Company on this site, (the building on the left) 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 the first decade of the 20th century 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

Street view showing a 5-6 storey building on the right, which curves with the street. There are two parked cars on this side of the street, close to an enclosed pedestrian footbridge running over the road. On the left hand side there are parked cars and telegraph poles. There is a tall fence and low brick building in the left foreground, leading to a 3-4 storey brick building with decorative facade. Behind that is a tall building with four water tanks atop it.

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin glass negative, full plate, landscape format. 4 strips of perforated white tape have been applied to the non-emulsion side.

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