Sauna

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 17mm · f/3.2 · 2s · ISO 1000
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The abandoned sauna at Bankstown RSL Club stands silent. Wooden benches and a rusted heater fill the small, decaying room, awaiting forgotten users.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD

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Type

Colour

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Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 10 to 20 business days (framed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Sauna
Series: Bankstown RSL
Catalogue: BRS-028
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 February 2019
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/3.2
Shutter: 2s s
ISO: 1000
Focal length: 17 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2016 Heritage Award, Multimedia

02 LOCATION

Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The sauna at the Bankstown RSL is a small timber-lined room tucked into the underground recreation wing. The walls and the bench tiers are clad in narrow pine boards, the timber a deep amber from decades of heat. Two levels of bench run along three sides of the room, with the heater unit set into the corner at floor level. The heater carries a steel guardrail around it and a heap of rocks on top. The door is heavy timber with a small viewing window inset at head height. The ceiling is the same pine cladding as the walls. The lighting is a single recessed lamp above the heater. The room smells of cedar still, the timber holding the working oils of years of use.

The sauna was part of the underground recreation wing that ran below the 1955 clubhouse, alongside the pool, the squash court, and the gym. Members used the sauna after a swim or a workout, or simply for the sit. The wing was wound down through the 2000s as the club's membership thinned, and the sauna closed off some years before final demolition. The Bankstown RSL was demolished in March 2019. The sauna, the timber benches, and the heater all went down with the rest of the basement.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Cedar-lined walls darken with moisture stains where the grain has swollen and split. Two tiers of bench seating run along the left wall, the timber grey and dry. A caged bulkhead light sits dead centre on the back wall. The electric heater unit stands in the far corner, its copper pipes disconnected. Ceramic tiles on the floor are covered in a film of grime and dust. The air looks thick, still, close.

Brett Patman

The series

Bankstown RSL

2019 · 30 photographs

Bankstown RSL Club's 1955 clubhouse stood at the corner of Meredith Street, Bankstown, for sixty-four years before its closure on 15 January 2019 and demolition that March. The sub-Branch had been founded in 1928 by twenty-six returned servicemen of the 1914 to 1918 war. The new club opened on the same site six days after the old one closed.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.