Pulveriser

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 1/6 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A machine inside the Bathurst Gasworks with a belt-replacement access hatch on the front face. The plant's machinery was rebuilt around 1960 and ran coal carbonisation until AGL switched to LPG reforming in 1979, then closed in 1987.

Edition

Open edition

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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: Pulveriser
Series: Bathurst Gasworks
Catalogue: BGA-007
Process: Giclée
Captured: 2 January 2016
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/6 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 24 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A large pulveriser sits where it was left inside the Bathurst Gasworks, its housing weathered and its drive train at rest. The body of the machine is heavy cast iron and welded plate, finished in a flat industrial grey that has weathered to brown over the rust. An access hatch on the front of the housing is visible, sized for belt replacement on the drive side. A hopper opening at the top shows the chute through which coal was fed for sizing. The floor underneath carries the residue of the last batch processed: a fine dark grit that has spread out around the base.

Pulverisers prepared coal for the retorts by breaking it down to a consistent particle size. Uniform feed mattered: too coarse and the carbonisation was uneven, too fine and the retort lost heat retention. The Bathurst Gasworks ran on coal carbonisation from 1888 to 1979, then on LPG reforming under AGL from 1979 to 1987. This machine is from the council coal era. By the half-year ending June 1917, the works was carbonising 2,879 tons of coal to produce just under 31 million cubic feet of gas, an average yield of 10,751 cubic feet per ton. Equipment like this pulveriser was the front of that chain. It has not turned since 1979.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A steel pulverising unit stands centre frame, its heavy casing blackened with soot and scale. A small access hatch sits open on the front face. Pipework and chain mechanisms climb the body of the machine. To the right, a large cylindrical vessel shows deep corrosion, its painted surface blistered and peeling to bare metal. Broken glass and rubite litter the concrete floor. Diffused light presses through tall industrial windows behind, flattening everything to grey.

Brett Patman

The series

Bathurst Gasworks

2016 · 22 photographs

Bathurst Gasworks ran on Russell Street from 1888 to 1987, producing town gas for Bathurst, Orange, and Lithgow under a three-council partnership for 91 years before being leased to AGL in 1979. Town gas production ceased in 1987, when Bathurst was switched onto the state natural gas grid. The site shows the standard pattern of a 19th-century country gasworks: a coal-fired retort house, byproduct storage, and a service yard. Coal tar from the gas-making process produced significant ground contamination, and the site has been partly remediated by Bathurst Regional Council with funding from the NSW Environmental Trust in 2008 and 2009. The retort building is the most prominent surviving structure and is documented in the Bathurst Regional Council heritage layer.

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.