Bathrooms at Waterfall Sanatorium, a brown vinyl armchair sits centre-frame on a floor thick with plaster dust and debris.

Series · 54 prints

Waterfall Sanatorium

Photographed 2018
Frames 54
Camera NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Garrawarra Centre for the Aged operates on site
Years 1909 to 1958
Specs 370 beds in 1914 · 788 patients in 1919 (largest sanatorium in NSW) · Approximately 2,000 graves in site cemetery
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Waterfall Sanatorium opened on 14 April 1909, twenty-six miles south of Sydney at an elevation chosen for what the era's medical orthodoxy called "high and rarefied atmosphere". By 1919 it held seven hundred and eighty-eight patients and was the largest sanatorium in New South Wales. It closed as a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1958.

The active-phase patients were housed in fibro chalets roughly the size of garden sheds, distributed across the site to keep them apart. The chronic and advanced cases were treated in ward buildings. One hundred and eighty male patients moved in on the day the sanatorium opened. The female wing for one hundred and twenty followed in May 1912 when patients were transferred down from Newington State Hospital. Around two thousand graves sit in the cemetery within the grounds, controlled by Wollongong Council, the scale of twentieth-century TB mortality written into the site. The Garrawarra Centre for the Aged operates on part of the site today.

South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (Garrawarra history), NSW State Archives (AGY-1995 Waterfall Sanatorium) and Find and Connect (Waterfall Sanatorium)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1909
1912
1914
1919
1958
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Bathrooms at Waterfall Sanatorium, a brown vinyl armchair sits centre-frame on a floor thick with plaster dust and debris.
Bathrooms
Looking Out at Waterfall Sanatorium, broken windows viewing out towards the overgrown grounds of Waterfall Sanatorium.
Looking Out
Hanging Garden at Waterfall Sanatorium, a fern growing in brickwork between two bathroom doors.
Hanging Garden
Washroom at Waterfall Sanatorium, a narrow brick corridor opens toward a bank of timber-framed windows.
Washroom
Ward Hall at Waterfall Sanatorium, a corridor stretches toward a single doorway where daylight enters.
Ward Hall
Three Windows at Waterfall Sanatorium, three timber-framed windows sit evenly spaced across a rendered wall.
Three Windows
The Way Out at Waterfall Sanatorium, sunlight falls in pale strips across a bare concrete floor.
The Way Out
The Side Room at Waterfall Sanatorium, a narrow brick corridor leads toward a wall of steel-framed windows.
The Side Room
The Shed at Waterfall Sanatorium, a cream brick room with a corrugated iron ceiling.
The Shed
The Long Walk at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs deep into the building, narrowing to a vanishing point.
The Long Walk
The Fireplace at Waterfall Sanatorium, a brick fireplace sits against the far wall, its arched opening now stuffed.
The Fireplace
Switchback at Waterfall Sanatorium, a long corridor stretches deep into the building, flanked by brown brick walls thick.
Switchback
Storage Shelves at Waterfall Sanatorium, a timber shelving unit covers the back wall, its grid of open compartments.
Storage Shelves
Squares In Squares at Waterfall Sanatorium, timber posts frame a sequence of open rooms, each threshold leading deeper.
Squares In Squares
Sprawl at Waterfall Sanatorium, sunlight falls through a long bank of windows onto a debris-covered floor.
Sprawl
Side Hall at Waterfall Sanatorium, a narrow enclosed corridor runs between a brick wall and a bank of steel-framed windows.
Side Hall
Side Chair at Waterfall Sanatorium, a floral armchair sits alone at the centre of a large hall.
Side Chair
Ripples at Waterfall Sanatorium, sunlight cuts through a row of tall windows and throws long parallel shadows.
Ripples
Rainforest Escape at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick facade of a ward building.
Rainforest Escape
Peeking Through The Blinds at Waterfall Sanatorium, pale green walls hold three windows.
Peeking Through The Blinds
Overgrown at Waterfall Sanatorium, ferns and dried grass push through cracks in the concrete floor.
Overgrown
Organ at Waterfall Sanatorium, a wooden organ sits against the far wall, its keys and stops exposed.
Organ
Nothing Left at Waterfall Sanatorium, white ceramic tiles line the left wall, half of them still intact.
Nothing Left
Marbled Lino at Waterfall Sanatorium, a long corridor runs between a brick interior wall and a row of louvred windows.
Marbled Lino
Looking Down The Ward at Waterfall Sanatorium, a long open room stretches back toward a partitioned doorway.
Looking Down The Ward
Lone Chair at Waterfall Sanatorium, a floral armchair sits alone at the centre of a large hall.
Lone Chair
Laundry at Waterfall Sanatorium, a blue vinyl chair sits beneath a window in a narrow room.
Laundry
Indoor Plants at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered walkway runs along the brick facade of a ward building.
Indoor Plants
Glasshouse at Waterfall Sanatorium, frosted glass panels fill the walls from dado rail to ceiling, framed in dark timber.
Glasshouse
Flaky at Waterfall Sanatorium, paint curls away from every surface in thick, brittle sheets.
Flaky
Fibro Annex at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered walkway runs the length of a fibro and brick annex building.
Fibro Annex
Fallen Through at Waterfall Sanatorium, a corridor runs between partitioned rooms, their maroon-trimmed frames holding.
Fallen Through
Every Which Way at Waterfall Sanatorium, a corridor runs deep into the building, its pink-painted walls faded to a chalky.
Every Which Way
Empty Ward at Waterfall Sanatorium, a large rectangular ward stripped bare.
Empty Ward
Empty Arches at Waterfall Sanatorium, steel trusses span the pitched ceiling of a long rectangular hall.
Empty Arches
Daylight at Waterfall Sanatorium, a wide room stripped bare.
Daylight
Curtains at Waterfall Sanatorium, floral curtains still hang from their rails across two louvre windows.
Curtains
Communal Room at Waterfall Sanatorium, a wide communal room stripped bare.
Communal Room
Colour Room at Waterfall Sanatorium, sunlight cuts through a pair of tall windows and falls across a bare concrete floor.
Colour Room
Clinic Chair at Waterfall Sanatorium, a single padded chair sits off-centre on a brick-paved floor, angled toward empty.
Clinic Chair
Caleb Was Here at Waterfall Sanatorium, a corridor runs deep into the ward.
Caleb Was Here
Brick Annex at Waterfall Sanatorium, a covered verandah runs along the brick annex, its pale green timber ceiling still.
Brick Annex
Breaking Down The Doors at Waterfall Sanatorium, a timber door lies flat on the floorboards, its glass panel still intact.
Breaking Down The Doors
Boiler House at Waterfall Sanatorium, a heavy industrial boiler sits against the far wall, its casing oxidised to a deep.
Boiler House
Annex at Waterfall Sanatorium, a long enclosed corridor runs between a brick ward building and a wall of timber-framed.
Annex
Exit Walkway at Waterfall Sanatorium, an external corridor tinged green closest to the window.
Exit Walkway
Duality at Waterfall Sanatorium, an empty room within one of the wards of Waterfall Sanatorium.
Duality
The Document Room at Waterfall Sanatorium, patient documents, strewn across a heavily graffitied room with upturned.
The Document Room
Arches at Waterfall Sanatorium, a large empty room in Waterfall Sanatorium.
Arches
Pump Room at Waterfall Sanatorium, a dimly lit pump room.
Pump Room
Fallen at Waterfall Sanatorium, dead leaves surrounding a chair in a small utility room.
Fallen
Utility at Waterfall Sanatorium, a caged storage area leading to a roller door exit.
Utility
Encroach at Waterfall Sanatorium, vegetation slowly making its way from the outside to the interior of the building.
Encroach
Drawing Board at Waterfall Sanatorium, a small decaying room within Waterfall Sanatorium.
Drawing Board
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.