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Photograph - Instructional photograph No.1: Using concrete for street kerbs, Portland Cement Association, 1921

  • Concrete kerbing instructional photograph

    Concrete kerbing instructional photograph

  • Verso: Instructional photograph: using concrete in street kerbs

    Verso: Instructional photograph: using concrete in street kerbs

  • Concrete kerbing instructional photograph
  • Verso: Instructional photograph: using concrete in street kerbs

Historical information

One of seven photographs produced by the Portland Cement Association in 1921 showing how concrete kerbs could be created. Portland Cement Association (PCA) was founded in 1916. From 1917, the association actively promoted the benefits of concrete for road works in Australian newspapers. In the nineteenth century in Melbourne (Vic.) 'made roads' typically had gutters and kerbing lined with bluestone.

Significance

The photographs are important evidence of the availability of instructional models for the use of concrete in street works in Victoria. While the photographs date from the early 1920s, the use of concrete for kerbing did not reach its maturity until after World War 2. The photos demonstrate knowledge about and the use of concrete in street works in a major Melbourne municipality at an early period.

Physical description

Black and white photograph with printed instructions on the reverse showing the production of concrete kerbing on 67th Street, West Allis, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA). The photograph was produced by the Portland Cement Association of Chicago in 1921 and used within the Chief Engineer's Department of the City of Kew (Vic.).

Inscriptions & markings

"1st - Filling forms with Concrete. Construction of Combined Concrete Cerb and Gutter"

Subjects

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