Summary

Negative showing the ceremonial laying of the first brick for Building 4 at the Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd factory in Abbotsford, 30 April 1928.

In this negative, which is the fourth in a series of five documenting the event, a woman and Kodak Australasia chief managing director Mr Thomas Baker are pointing to the second brick, that has been laid by the woman.

Thomas Baker was a pioneer of photographic manufacturing in Australasia. He was the founder of the Austral Laboratory, and then Baker & Rouse, which merged into Kodak Australasia in 1908. Baker remained a director of Kodak Australasia and was an indispensable technical director of manufacturing until his death in 1928.

This negative was previously housed in a Kodak branded photo wallet along with five other black and white sheet negatives and one photograph. Images depict the ceremonial laying of the first brick at Abbotsford and a portrait of a man holding a bag and leaning on a walking stick. The five negatives and one photograph depicting the brick laying ceremony relate to other photographs mounted in album HT 43508.

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 object 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

Woman wearing dress, coat, necklace and glasses is holding a brick, while a man in a suit, bow-tie and hat is pointing to the brick. They are standing on the footings of a new building that is being constructed. There are timber supports and string set up around the footings. A fence is in the background.

Physical Description

Black and white landscape format negative.

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