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

01 Tin CityLake Macquarie2018

ISO 1801/200f/8.0200mm

Series · 37 prints

Tin City

Photographed 2018
Frames 37
Camera NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Eleven shacks remain within Worimi Conservation Lands
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Two tin sheds were put up on the Stockton Bight dunes in the late nineteenth century to hold provisions for sailors shipwrecked on the beach. During the Great Depression a group of squatters built a series of shacks around them. The settlement that grew became Tin City, on Worimi country, in the largest mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere.

Eleven shacks remain. The corrugated iron and timber have been repaired and rebuilt across decades against wind, sand burial, and storm surge. The dunes around them move approximately 4 metres north a year, with slopes up to 60 degrees and crests over 30 metres high.

During the Second World War the Army demolished the shacks for a coastal camp. When the squatters came back at the end of the war, the migrating sand had buried their huts. They rebuilt with driftwood and military crates washed up on the beach.

On 1 February 2007 the Crown returned the land to the Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council, leased it back to the NSW Government, and gazetted the dunes as Worimi National Park, Worimi State Conservation Area, and Worimi Regional Park. The Worimi Conservation Lands Plan of Management 2015 governs the shacks: no new ones, no rebuilding after destruction. Shacks pass to family or friends; they can't be sold.

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

Hand-signed limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not reissued once they sell through.

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
Sandstorm at Tin City, sand drives low across the ground, blurring the base of a row of shacks at Tin City.
Sandstorm
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

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes
06 PRESS

In the press

Holding a solo exhibition in one of the spaces I've photographed would also be a dream, particularly at a site with a strong community connection - so the images can be enjoyed by the people who made it matter.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

I'm not trying to make out like I'm some kind of mysterious urbex badass. Lost Collective isn't about me. It's about the places I shoot and even more about the connection that the people have to the sites.

Broadsheet

Brett Patman·2016

lostcollective.com

On the LC archive.

Often I'd find myself looking at the machines and architecture and challenging myself to find one single object designed purely for aesthetics. Craftsmanship made way for efficiency in engineering long before I'd even left school.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

See press coverage →
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

Read the full story

Articles when they're published. The history behind a place. The day of a shoot. The work between prints. No marketing, no schedule.

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