• Title
  Photographic records of Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd., mainly of the Balmain site, 1923 - 1976
• Creator
  Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd.
• Call number
  PXA 922
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  1923 - 1976
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Photographs, Ephemera
• Reference code
  91305
• Issue Copy
  Partly Digitised
• Physical Description
  Photographs - 32 x 32 cm. or smaller - 193 silver gelatin photoprints
  Ephemera - 28 x 21 cm. - No scale given - Map (printed)
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  Colgate-Palmolive, a New York based company, opened a soap factory at East Balmain in 1923. In 1924 Palmolive soap was launched in Australia. By 1925 there were 144 people employed at Balmain by Colgate-Palmolive - 96 in the factory and 48 in the office and sales sections. In 1928 the factory began production of Colgate toothpaste. During the 1950s and 1960s shampoos and various household cleaning products were added to the Colgate range. In 1993 closure of the Balmain plant was begun. The Colgate-Palmolive site was reopened in 1998 having been redeveloped as residential apartments
  For further information see Down the 'Olive: a memory of Colgate-Palmolive in Balmain, New South Wales / written and edited by Else Lackey and Monica Vardabasso. Sydney: Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd., 1994
• Scope and Content
  Exterior shots, including aerial views, of the Balmain site and surrounds, some taken during construction. Interior shots of storage, office and production areas. Sequences of production processes are documented and workers are depicted performing various tasks. Includes group photos of workers at the factory and in related social and sporting settings
  1. [Map of Mort Bay showing jetties and site of Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd., including surrounding streets and blocks of Balmain. N.d.]
  2-22. [Buildings during construction, c.1923-1939]
  23-24. [Unfurnished interiors, near completion]
  25-55. [Completed buildings, storeyards and surrounds, c.1924, 1941, 1976]
  56-68. [Aerial views of buildings, the site and surrounding blocks of Balmain including Mort Bay]
  69-76. [Plant interiors, including machinery close-ups, 1969]
  77-82. [Storage area interiors and stock]
  83. [Filling of toothpaste tubes]
  84-93. Glycerine Still Project - Australia Progress Report no.17, 30/4/54 [Machinery close-ups]
  94-98. Glycerine Still Project - Australia Progress Report no.18, 27/5/54 [Machinery close-ups]
  99-105. Glycerine Still Project - Australia Progress Report no.19, 2/7/54 [Machinery close-ups]
  106-118 [Machinery close-ups including of the Oliver Bundling machine and a stacker device, but mostly of unidentified machinery]
  119-161. [Scenes of workers operating machinery and involved in various production processes including assembly and packaging and cleaning. Group photos of particular department staff and sections]
  162-185. [Groups of workers photographed at the factory and also in more social contexts such as at balls, sporting fixtures and even on holidays together. Includes photos of sporting teams representing work and wedding photos]
  184. Soap token and Souvenir Programme of Palmolive Golf Club's Victory Ball at Grace Auditorium, Friday, June 21st, 1946
  185. Flier for Fiesta de Nonsensia held 13 July, 1939
  186. [Various social publications of Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd.]
  187. [Cashmere Bouquet product range]
  188-191. [Soap Manufacture]
• General note
  
  Many of the photos in this collection are published in Down the 'Olive
  Digital order no:Album ID : 824139
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Many staff are named in full on reverse
  "Hall & Co., Portrait Studio, 20 Hunter Street, Sydney" -- stamped on reverse (35,76-83,129,138,140,150,159-161)
  "Copyright aerial photo, Milton Kent, Sydney" -- stamped on reverse (56-59)
  "Copyright John Fairfax & Sons Ltd." -- stamped on reverse (60-64)
  "Photograph by Chas W. Miller Camera Shop Inc. " -- stamped on reverse (73,74)
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Hall & Co.
  John Fairfax & Sons Ltd.
  Kent, Milton
  
• Name
  Colgate-Palmolive Pty. Ltd.
  
• Subject
  Adult Males
  Adult Females
  
• Topic
  interiors
  aerial photographs
  aerial views
  assembly lines
  balls & dances
  bays
  boxes & cases
  bridegrooms
  brides
  building construction
  canteens
  chimneys
  cleaning
  cranes (machines)
  cricket teams
  drums (containers)
  factory workers
  factory works
  floating booms
  hockey teams
  houses
  ladders
  motor vehicles
  perfume bottles
  plant (industrial)
  programs (documents)
  roads & streets
  ships
  soap
  stairs
  steps
  toiletries
  toothpaste
  trucks
  vats
  warehouses
  jetties & wharves
  
• Place
  Balmain (N.S.W.)
  Colgate-Palmolive Pty Ltd (Balmain)
  
• Exhibited in
  
  This Working Life
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE912301

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