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 of a print.

The photograph features factory buildings and watertower to the right, and a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, and wooden benches to the left. Also to the right is a timber building with a small hutch for storing wood and garden tools visible in the foreground. There is a wooden bench along a concrete path with a wooden ramp leading up into the building.

This garden 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 right of the tall palm tree in the centre of the image 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 watertower to the right, and a garden setting with garden beds, trees, lawn, and wooden benches to the left. To the right is a timber building with a small hutch for storing wood and garden tools. There is a wooden bench along a concrete path with a wooden ramp leading up into the building. To the left the garden beds are bordered by angled bricks, with a pathway leading between and, presumably, down to the tennis courts visible beyond the fence palings to the left. To the right of the tall palm tree is the Paper Coating Building where photographic paper was coated and photographic emulsions were manufactured.

Physical Description

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

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