The company's Australian heritage began with young scientist Thomas Baker pioneering photographic manufacturing in Australia. In 1886 he set up a small cottage industry in his Melbourne laboratory, making revolutionary photographic dry plates, which he marketed as Special Rapid plates.

A year later he teamed up with businessman John J. Rouse to form a photographic wholesaling and retailing venture - Baker and Rouse Pty Ltd.

The formation of Kodak

Across the Pacific, around the same time, George Eastman was also pioneering the commercial production of dry plates in the U.S.A. In search of a distinctive trademark, he came up with the word "Kodak" because it was easy to pronounce and spell in any language, and began and ended with Eastman's favourite letter. By 1901, he had formed the Eastman Kodak Company.

With photography still in its infancy in Australia and the U.S., Baker and Rouse developed a business relationship with Eastman. In 1908, Baker & Rouse was appointed sole Australian agent for Kodak products, which led to the expansion of the business and the formation of Australian Kodak Limited. A New Zealand branch was formed in Auckland three years later, and in 1920, the company was registered as Kodak (Australasia) Pty Ltd, the name it retains today.

Kodak has continued to develop in the field of photography over the years, significantly stepping up its research and development during World War II. After the war, Kodak directed its focus to expanding operations and in 1959 the first occupants of the newly-built Coburg factory moved in. Top of page

Product ingenuity

So how does Kodak after 100 years remain relevant? Through continuous innovation and the relentless pursuit of quality. Kodak has delivered quality products from generation to generation of Australians, building up a reservoir of trust over decades.

While Kodak is synonymous with film and snapshot photography, the story does not end there. Kodak's motion picture film, for example, remains the firm choice of cinematographers worldwide. Top of page

Kodak is also a byword in the field of business imaging. An early example is Kodak's introduction of microfilm in 1927. These days, digital scanning of business documents is at the leading edge of information management, and Kodak remains at the forefront. Kodak's most popular document scanner handles 75 pages per minute and can also scan pictures at high resolution.

In the health imaging area, the traditional X-Ray business has been augmented by new medical imaging technologies, including teleradiology, which enables medical specialists to diagnose images digitally transmitted from the other side of the world. Top of page

Recent developments

As the 21st century opens, the world is confronted by a great change as telecommunications, the media and computing converge in new media such as the internet and multimedia applications. This is the digital revolution.

Kodak is leading the way in digital imaging with innovative ways of taking and using pictures. For consumers, this means exciting new product offerings such as digital cameras, scanners and new applications for their pictures via the magic of digitization.

Picture Maker, Kodak's in-store digital imaging station, scans from prints - no negatives required - and produces fade-resistant, high quality prints. The unit can recompose a picture, eliminate the "red eye" caused by flash photography, and correct poor color. This is being further extended with a range of digital templates, available to stores via ISDN, which enable the marriage of scanned images with graphics and text, extending consumers' enjoyment of their precious photos.

Now Kodak is using the immediacy and magic of digital photography to deliver fun pictures at theme parks, cinema complexes, and even on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge as part of the new Sydney BridgeClimb experience. Please visit our Themed Entertainment site for more information on Digital Image Capture and Output.

Kodak is also a key player in a new snapshooter-friendly photo system known as Advanced Photo System (APS) and marketed by Kodak as Advantix. APS is an open system for which any manufacturer can make cameras or film.

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