Corporate Body

Austral Plate Company (1884 - c. 1907)

From
1884
Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia
To
c. 1907
Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia
Functions
Manufacturing industry
Alternative Names
  • Austral Laboratory (Also known as)

Summary

The Austral Plate Company also known as the Austral Laboratory) produced dry photographic plates as well as photographic papers in the 1880s. It was established by Thomas Baker in 1884 in his home, Yarra Grange, in Abbotsford, Victoria.

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Details

Quote from A. Leggio, 2006, 'A history of Australia's Kodak manufacturing plant', 148:

"Thomas Baker ran a business, which he called the Austral Plate Co, 1884, from his home in Abbotsford. The company manufactured and developed photographic materials and plates. According to legend, Baker, with the aid of his wife Alice and her sister Eleanor, manufactured plates at night which he sold by day (Lowe 1974: p9). By 1885 the Austral Plate Co had a listed outlet at 190 Russell St in
Melbourne, which remained until 1891."

Quotes from 'Technology in Australia, 1788-1988', pp863-864 (online at https://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/842.html):

"The origins of Kodak in Australia reach back to 1884, when a young chemist, Thomas Baker, was the first person in this country to successfully manufacture and market photographic dry plates. He set up a small cottage industry producing his Special Rapid plates at his home in Abbotsford, Victoria. Until about this time photography relied on the very cumbersome and inconvenient wet plate process, which required the plate to be exposed at once and developed while wet."

and:

"The Austral Laboratory produced Austral dry plates which were an improvement on the original Special Rapid plates, as well as on Austral Pearl Bromide paper, which was a matte finish paper, and Austral Printing Cut paper."

Timeline

 1884 - c. 1907 Austral Plate Company
       1887 - 1894 Thomas Baker and Company Laboratory
             1894 - 1908 Baker and Rouse Australia Laboratory
                   2000 - Kodak (Australasia) Proprietary Limited

Archival resources

Museums Victoria

Published resources

Books

  • Davies, Alan and Stanbury, Peter, The mechanical eye in Australia: photography 1841-1900 (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1985), xi, 270 p : ill., facsims., ports pp. Details

Conference Papers

Resources

See also

Ailie Smith

Created: 27 April 2000, Last modified: 17 November 2023

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