Summary

Black and white glass plate negative of the exterior of the Kodak Australasia factory in Abbotsford, Victoria, circa 1930s. It has strips of perforated white tape applied as a mask, indicating the position where a print was made.

The photograph features factory buildings and a chimney to the left, and a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, and wooden benches. The foreground of this photograph shows the staff gardens, sloping up the hill. This area was close to the canteen, where staff took their breaks. By 1948, this garden area had been built over with the Glass Plate Building. To the far right is the tennis court fence and the far left is the perimeter fence. Behind some trees, the Power House chimney is visible. This was the second chimney and was probably built in the 1930s. The Power House provided all of the power and refrigeration for the Kodak factory. To the right is 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.

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

Factory buildings and a chimney to the left, and a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, and wooden benches. The foreground of this photograph shows the staff gardens, sloping up the hill. To the far right is the tennis court fence and the far left is the perimeter fence.

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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