Rising Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, the enclosed conveyor carried coal from the storage bunker up to the boiler house.

Series · 79 prints

Morwell Power Station

Photographed 2017
Frames 79
Camera NIKON D810
Location Victoria, Australia
Status Demolished 2018-2020
Years 1956 to 2014
Heritage VHR 200429
Specs Four 94 m steel chimneys · Eight boilers · Brown coal lignite
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

The Morwell Power Station and Briquette Works was an integrated cogeneration plant in Victoria's Latrobe Valley, built by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria from 1949 and operated from 1956 to February 2014. At peak it produced 180 MW of electricity and over a million tonnes of briquettes a year for the Victorian solid fuel market. A Boxing Day 2003 fire destroyed the conveyor feeding three of the four briquette plants; the conveyor was never repaired. The plant closed for good after a 12 February 2014 fire. Heritage Victoria added the site to the Victorian Heritage Register in February 2018 as the state's earliest surviving large-scale grid power station, but later granted a permit to demolish the main station while keeping the briquette factories. The two 94-metre chimneys were brought down on 20 February 2021. The site contained more than 10,000 cubic metres of asbestos.

03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Rising Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, the enclosed conveyor carried coal from the storage bunker up to the boiler house.
Rising Conveyor
Generator at Morwell Power Station, the blade rings inside have the kind of precision that heavy industry does better than.
Generator
Turbine Floor 3 at Morwell Power Station, a turbine control panel lines the left wall, its rows of analogue gauges.
Turbine Floor 3
Turbine Hall Control Room Entrance at Morwell Power Station, the control room sat above the turbine hall floor at one end.
Turbine Hall Control Room Entrance
Turbine Front at Morwell Power Station, a heavy cast-iron valve wheel sits in the foreground, its spokes thick with dust.
Turbine Front
Turbine Floor at Morwell Power Station, four turbo-alternator units sit in two rows, their cylindrical steel casings grey.
Turbine Floor
Turbine Floor 2 at Morwell Power Station, the turbine hall stretches deep into the building.
Turbine Floor 2
Turbine and Condenser at Morwell Power Station, the condensers below the turbines returned exhaust steam back to feedwater.
Turbine and Condenser
Transfer House at Morwell Power Station, cream brick facade, blackened where water has tracked down from the roofline.
Transfer House
Top of the Bunker at Morwell Power Station, the top of the coal bunker, where the conveyors discharged into storage below.
Top of the Bunker
Top of Boiler at Morwell Power Station, steel grating covers the floor of the upper boiler level.
Top of Boiler
The Corridor at Morwell Power Station, a wide concrete corridor runs between two multi-storey industrial buildings.
The Corridor
Steam Vessel at Morwell Power Station, a steel grating walkway runs between a massive cylindrical vessel and a concrete.
Steam Vessel
Soot Blower at Morwell Power Station, steel grating stretches down a narrow service walkway between boiler units.
Soot Blower
Shuttle Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, a steel grating walkway runs alongside a heavy conveyor system deep inside.
Shuttle Conveyor
Shaker Screen No 6 at Morwell Power Station, no.
Shaker Screen No 6
Shaker Screen Floor at Morwell Power Station, six screens to a row, drive motors still mounted in place.
Shaker Screen Floor
Screen Floor at Morwell Power Station, steel hoppers line both sides of a narrow corridor, their conical bases suspended.
Screen Floor
Raw Coal Bunker at Morwell Power Station, a massive steel drum roller sits at the top of the coal bunker, mounted.
Raw Coal Bunker
Press Covers at Morwell Power Station, two pale green steel covers angle upward from the concrete floor, flanking a narrow.
Press Covers
Precipitator at Morwell Power Station, a concrete roadway runs between the precipitator housing and a three-storey cream.
Precipitator
Power Station Window at Morwell Power Station, one window, two broken panes.
Power Station Window
Workshop at Morwell Power Station, a rectangle of sunlight falls across worn timber floorboards inside the maintenance.
Workshop
Wet Section at Morwell Power Station, rows of steel filtration trays stretch the full length of the hall, coated in fine.
Wet Section
Wet Section Western End at Morwell Power Station, visitors Carpark is painted on the base of the western end building.
Wet Section Western End
Wet Section Walkway at Morwell Power Station, the walkway ran the full length of the wet section above the processing.
Wet Section Walkway
Wet Section 213 Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, the wet section handled freshly mined brown coal before it was dried.
Wet Section 213 Conveyor
Vanishing Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, the frame is numbered 59, which tells you how far along the conveyor you're.
Vanishing Conveyor
Through the Window at Morwell Power Station, through the boiler house window, another wing of the station.
Through the Window
Press Floor at Morwell Power Station, a heavy flywheel sits at the centre of the frame, bolted to a large reciprocating.
Press Floor
Power Station Riser at Morwell Power Station, the riser corridor gave access to the steam valve gear that fed the turbines.
Power Station Riser
Point to Point at Morwell Power Station, an enclosed conveyor bridge cuts diagonally across an overcast sky, supported.
Point to Point
Number 10 Briquette Factory at Morwell Power Station, the high-level corridor in Number 10 Briquette Factory ran.
Number 10 Briquette Factory
Number 2 Crusher at Morwell Power Station, a steel mesh walkway runs between two rows of crusher housings.
Number 2 Crusher
Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factory at Morwell Power Station, steel beams and concrete walls frame defunct machinery.
Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factory
Metropolitan Vickers at Morwell Power Station, metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co.
Metropolitan Vickers
Mechanical Workshop at Morwell Power Station, the machine tools are still here, green paint mostly intact.
Mechanical Workshop
Maze at Morwell Power Station, cream brick and corrugated iron press tight against each other.
Maze
Main Press Floor at Morwell Power Station, large green steel housings sit at sharp angles along the concrete floor.
Main Press Floor
M50s at Morwell Power Station, a long covered conveyor gallery stretches into the distance, its timber-lined roof darkened.
M50s
Loading Shed at Morwell Power Station, pale brick buildings stack behind a cracked concrete apron.
Loading Shed
Launder Yard at Morwell Power Station, cream brick buildings rise several storeys high across a cracked concrete yard.
Launder Yard
Hiding Spot at Morwell Power Station, a steel mesh grating floor stretches across a maintenance platform inside the power.
Hiding Spot
Hammer Mills at Morwell Power Station, a large industrial fan sits caged behind steel mesh on the right.
Hammer Mills
Hammer Mills 2 at Morwell Power Station, two hammer mills sit heavy on the concrete floor, their cylindrical steel bodies.
Hammer Mills 2
Hammer Mill Conveyor at Morwell Power Station, the idler rollers are still in place, frozen at whatever angle they were.
Hammer Mill Conveyor
Grinding Shop at Morwell Power Station, heavy milling machines line the workshop floor, their cast-iron beds thick.
Grinding Shop
Fire Escape at Morwell Power Station, three levels of steel-grated landing platforms climb the pale brick face.
Fire Escape
East and West at Morwell Power Station, steel coal bunkers hang overhead, labelled East and West.
East and West
Dust Extraction at Morwell Power Station, steel grating covers the floor of the upper level, gridded and dark with decades.
Dust Extraction
Dryer Motors at Morwell Power Station, heavy industrial dryer motors line the ground floor on concrete plinths,.
Dryer Motors
Double Shaker Screens at Morwell Power Station, the shaker screens sorted coal by size before it moved further.
Double Shaker Screens
Divider at Morwell Power Station, two multi-storey brick buildings stand parallel, forming a wide concrete corridor.
Divider
Descent at Morwell Power Station, a steel grate staircase climbs steeply between levels inside the boiler house.
Descent
Cooling House at Morwell Power Station, three vertical bays of steel-framed glass rise the full height of the façade.
Cooling House
Cooling House 2 at Morwell Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs the length of the cooling house.
Cooling House 2
Conveyor and Wet Section at Morwell Power Station, the conveyor bridge connected the wet section to the main building.
Conveyor and Wet Section
Condenser at Morwell Power Station, a massive green condenser drum dominates the right side of the frame, its bolted end.
Condenser
Collector Conveyors at Morwell Power Station, the collector yard empty now, weeds finding the cracks in the concrete.
Collector Conveyors
Chimneys and Precipitator at Morwell Power Station, the Lurgi precipitators pulled ash out of the flue gas before it went.
Chimneys and Precipitator
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Paper

Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm. Metallic Gloss 260 gsm for acrylic-mounted prints.

Sizes

Five sizes, XS to XL, from $100. Open editions in XS and S, limited editions in M, L and XL.

Print tiers →

Production

Made to order in 5 to 10 business days.