Hallway

A long hallway runs into the interior of the ABBCO Bakery in Leichhardt, NSW. Paint has lifted from the walls in broad sections, exposing earlier coats and, beneath them, bare plaster. The plaster itself is failing in places, pulling away from the substrate and leaving ragged edges along the skirting and cornices. Floorboards run the full length of the corridor, worn smooth along the centre where foot traffic once concentrated. A thin layer of dust has settled across the boards, catching the faint light that enters from windows out of frame. No fittings, no signage, nothing has been left behind in this passage. The company operating this factory was Abbco Bread Co Pty Ltd, known as ABBCO, a name derived from the Automatic Bread Baking Company. Its origins trace to 1914, when the NSW Government purchased a large brick bakery at Stanmore to establish the State Bakery, producing bread for Sydney at regulated prices during wartime. Around 1925 the business passed into private hands and continued as ABBCO. By 1941 the company was operating at this Leichhardt site, supplying both civilian and military markets. A Federal Royal Commission that year examined a ministerial decision to reduce a fine imposed on the company, and Mr Justice Maxwell visited the bakery in Leichhardt on 2 April 1941 to observe bread production first-hand. By 1973 ABBCO had grown substantially. The Baking Trade Employees' Union of NSW described it as the biggest independent bakery in Australia. The factory ran two roll machines producing six thousand dozen rolls per hour, sent bread through a 65-foot oven, and distributed around 100 bread varieties across Sydney through the company's own retail shops and wholesale channels. When Brett Patman photographed the building in 2015, it was abandoned. The hallway recorded here was already well into its decline, the walls and floors carrying the slow evidence of years without maintenance or occupancy. The building has since been demolished.