Aerials at Tin City, a low line of corrugated iron shacks sits half-buried at the base of the Stockton Dunes.

Series · 36 prints

Tin City

Photographed 2018
Frames 36
Camera NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Tin City sits in the Stockton Bight sand dunes, about eleven kilometres south-west of Anna Bay in NSW. Eleven shacks remain. Habitation dates from the 1930s Great Depression, when men out of work moved into provision sheds left from late-nineteenth-century shipwreck-watch use.

At the 1930s peak there were thirty-six to thirty-eight shacks across the dune field. The Australian Army evicted the settlement during the Second World War; sand buried what was left; the residents rebuilt postwar using driftwood and military crates. The Bight was returned to Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council ownership on 1 February 2007 and is now Worimi Conservation Lands, jointly managed. The Plan of Management 2015 froze the settlement at its current size: no new shacks, no rebuilding after destruction. Most of what is photographable here is the dunes themselves, the largest mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere, with slopes up to sixty degrees migrating north at roughly four metres a year.

Worimi Conservation Lands Board of Management (Park History), NSW NPWS (Worimi joint management) and Newcastle Herald (Welcome to Tin City, 2013)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1930
1942
1946
2007
2015
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Aerials at Tin City, a low line of corrugated iron shacks sits half-buried at the base of the Stockton Dunes.
Aerials
Deserted at Tin City, a portrait image of shack Eleven.
Deserted
Seven at Tin City, shack number seven sits low against the dunes at Tin City, Stockton Beach.
Seven
Welcome To Tin City at Tin City, a metal sign lies face-up in the sand, its blue painted letters barely legible.
Welcome To Tin City
Waves at Tin City, a corrugated iron shack sits half-swallowed by sand dunes at Tin City.
Waves
Tyres at Tin City, a corrugated iron shack lists sideways into a dune, its verandah posts leaning at odd angles.
Tyres
Turbine at Tin City, sand pushes against the base of a corrugated iron shack, burying the lower wall panels.
Turbine
The Workshop at Tin City, a low corrugated iron structure sits half-swallowed by sand dunes at Tin City.
The Workshop
The Porch at Tin City, a corrugated iron shack sits half-swallowed by sand.
The Porch
The Outskirts at Tin City, sand dunes press against corrugated iron sheds on the outer edge of Tin City.
The Outskirts
The Garage at Tin City, sand presses against the lower walls of a long, low shack at Tin City.
The Garage
Sloped Roof at Tin City, a corrugated iron shack sits half-swallowed by sand.
Sloped Roof
Signage at Tin City, a hand-painted sign sits bolted to the roofline.
Signage
Seven Seven South West at Tin City, shack number seven sits alone against a wall of sand dunes that rises behind it like.
Seven Seven South West
Rooftops at Tin City, sand rises to the rooflines of a cluster of makeshift shacks at Tin City.
Rooftops
Ripples at Tin City, sand rises in a smooth, wind-rippled drift against a low corrugated iron shack.
Ripples
Red Walls at Tin City, corrugated iron panels in rust red, faded salmon, grey and bare steel form the wall of a shack.
Red Walls
Recess at Tin City, sand banks hard against corrugated iron walls, rising halfway up the structure.
Recess
Patchwork at Tin City, green and rust-brown corrugated iron panels sit side by side across a long, low structure.
Patchwork
Nine at Tin City, corrugated iron and shade cloth hold together a low sprawl of shack against the dunes.
Nine
From The Beach at Tin City, two corrugated iron structures sit low against the dunes at Tin City, Stockton Beach.
From The Beach
Filthy Phills Ranch at Tin City, sand drifts against the base of a low shack built from corrugated iron, timber cladding.
Filthy Phills Ranch
Filthy Phill And Seven at Tin City, two shacks sit low against the Stockton Bight dunes.
Filthy Phill And Seven
Facing South at Tin City, sand drifts between corrugated iron shacks, banking up against walls and burying the base.
Facing South
Eight at Tin City, sand drifts in low ripples across what used to be ground level.
Eight
City Centre at Tin City, sand drifts between corrugated iron shacks, banking against walls in smooth curves.
City Centre
Buoys at Tin City, a cluster of fishing buoys hangs from a corrugated iron wall.
Buoys
Boardwalk at Tin City, a corrugated iron shack sits half-buried in sand.
Boardwalk
Back of the Ranch at Tin City, looking across some of the shoreline vegetation towards the ranch.
Back of the Ranch
Colorbond at Tin City, the back wall of one of the more recently refurbished shacks.
Colorbond
The Alleyway at Tin City, an undulating sandscape which runs between some of the Tin City Shacks.
The Alleyway
Sunrise at Tin City, looking towards the beach from one of the back corners of Tin City.
Sunrise
The Wall at Tin City, corrugated iron sheeting looking to a distant Tin City shack.
The Wall
Buried at Tin City, a Tin City shack, recessed in rolling dunes of sand.
Buried
Eleven at Tin City, clean lines in a sandy foreground before a weathered Tin City shack.
Eleven
Front Yard at Tin City, the sand swept porch of one of the Tin City shacks.
Front Yard
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.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes