Rivets at West Ryde Pumping Station, a riveted steel column fills the left of the frame.

01 West Ryde Pumping StationWest Ryde2015

ISO 1000.4sf/2.8105mm

Series · 17 prints

West Ryde Pumping Station

Photographed 2015
Frames 17
Camera NIKON D7000
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Active operational pumping station
Opened 1891
Heritage NSW SHR 01634
Specs Federation Freestyle (Station 2) · 700 ML/day capacity (1982) · Largest domestic water pumping station in Australia at 1982 electrification
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Ryde Pumping Station, on the corner of Victoria Road and Hermitage Road in West Ryde, was the largest pumping station in Australia when its 1921 building was completed. The first station on the site went up in 1891, taking water from Potts Hill Reservoir and lifting it to Ryde tank and Chatswood through a pair of 146-horsepower vertical compound pumping engines moving 3,400 gallons a minute. The second and larger station was commissioned on 15 September 1921 and absorbed the work; the original station ceased pumping in November 1930 and was demolished in 1961. The 1921 station continues to operate as a working water utility, and was added to the NSW State Heritage Register on 15 November 2002. Engineering Heritage Australia recognised the place in 2017. The Lost Collective photographs are of the heritage interior of the working station.

03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed and numbered, printed from the original RAW file. Open editions in the two smallest sizes; limited editions of 100, 50 and 25 in the three larger, never reissued once they sell through.

Rivets at West Ryde Pumping Station, a riveted steel column fills the left of the frame.
Rivets
Interior of the main pump hall at West Ryde Pumping Station, facing north, with a dust-covered concrete floor and paint peeling from the walls in wide strips.
Pump Hall Facing North
Pump Hall Basement Catwalk at West Ryde Pumping Station, a steel-grate catwalk runs between two rows of large centrifugal.
Pump Hall Basement Catwalk
A roll of chart paper on a wooden shelf inside West Ryde Pumping Station. Fine printed grid lines cross the page, alongside the printed phrase Metres of Reservoir Depletion and handwritten text reading Belrose.
Graph Paper Close Up
A single wooden chair occupies a corner of the station interior. Grey tape holds its joints and lower legs together. Paint peels from the chair's surface, revealing bare timber grain beneath.
Chair
Boiler House at West Ryde Pumping Station, the boilers used to sit to the left of the frame but were removed when.
Boiler House
Safe Handle at West Ryde Pumping Station, the handle to a safe inside the control room.
Safe Handle
A corroded metal sink and its cross-handled tap are mounted against a brick wall in the boiler house at West Ryde Pumping Station. Rust and grime coat both.
Hand Basin
Plaques at West Ryde Pumping Station, commemorative plaques being stored in the boiler house.
Plaques
Clocks at West Ryde Pumping Station, a couple of old clocks which are in storage in the Boiler House.
Clocks
Pump Hall Basement at West Ryde Pumping Station, either side of the walk way and beyond are huge pipe manifolds.
Pump Hall Basement
Boiler House Basement at West Ryde Pumping Station, basement of the boiler house where clinker and ash would be removed.
Boiler House Basement
A pale yellow instrumentation panel covers the wall at West Ryde Pumping Station. Rows of circular analogue gauges are mounted across its face.
Control Room
A long pumping hall interior faces south. Large bolted pipes and conical sections, painted blue and flaking, run along the right of the frame.
Pumping Hall Facing South
Rusted steel I-beams and riveted metalwork span the interior above the coal loaders in the boiler house of Station No. 2. A metal ladder climbs toward a high opening in the steeply raked concrete ceiling.
Rafters
Riveted steel beams and a reinforced concrete bunker structure viewed from below, West Ryde Pumping Station. A green-painted gantry staircase runs along the left edge of the frame.
Coal Bunkers
Graph Paper Rolls at West Ryde Pumping Station, these were used to record water levels of various water reservoirs.
Graph Paper Rolls
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.

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