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The Eastman Kodak Company and its affiliates have been virtually synonymous with the development of amateur photography over the years. The story of the organization has been told and retold, and far be it from me in the far away land downunder to rehash the saga of this American industrial giant. But some brief background is essential to set the scene.
Eastman had the happy knack of coming up with the right idea, or even someone elses, at the right time-and he had the acumen to sell it to Mr. and Mrs. Average Snapshooter.(He also did a lot of research and planning beforehand!)
Most of us involved in the collecting of photographica have a heavy leaning towards the hardware, and certainly there are a number of landmark Kodak cameras that we all like to own. But Eastman did not make cameras for us to collect, or even to gain a reputation as the manufacturer of the best cameras in the world. Kodak made cameras to sell film, and to sell supplies to the burgeoning infrastructure which supported the ever increasing numbers of the snapshooting public. The volume market!
I'm sure you've all seen those lovely enamel signs advertising "KODAK SUPPLIES": that's what it was all about.
But manufacture cameras they certainly did ; all over the world eventually, and even down here in Australia.
The first official connection came in 1888 ( yes, that early) when Baker and Rouse, a small Melbourne photographic supplier and bicycle manufacturer gained the Australian trading agency for American Aristo paper, a product of the Eastman Dry Plate and Films Company.
in 1890.Kodak Ltd., England, opened a shop in Melbourne, and in 1908 Australian Kodak Limited was born. In 1920 it became Kodak (Australasia) Pty. Ltd. the name by which we still know it today.
Kodak Australasia continued to develop and grow as did the world wide Kodak group of companies. In 1957 the decision was finally made to assemble/manufacturer cameras in Australia. Tooling up began immediately, and camera production actually commenced in January 1958,at the Abbotsford plant in Melbourne.
The firs camera produced was the Brownie Flash II, a 620 box camera of English design. Initial production was mainly from imported parts, but as the in-house manufacturing skills grew, local content increased. Kodak production personnel worked side by side with local outside manufacturing industries. More and more local suppliers began making parts that satisfied the rigid Kodak quality standards, and Australian content steadily grew.
By 1962 both the Brownie Flash II and the some of the Brownie Star range were being produced with up to 95% local content. The only part not being manufacturer in Australia at that time was the taking lens.
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