Purifier Shed

The interior of the purifier shed at the Bathurst Gasworks holds the corroded plant of the gas-cleaning stage, with one side of the shed almost entirely destroyed where the cladding and structural framing have collapsed inward. Cast-iron purifier boxes sit on heavy concrete bases, with the access lids still in place across their tops. Brick walls rise around the equipment, faded and patched with paint that has flaked off in long sheets. Pipework runs between the boxes and out to the rest of the plant, the original alignment preserved despite the surface decay. Sunlight enters through the failing asbestos roof above and falls in hard bands across the equipment and the floor.

Purifier sheds housed the final cleaning stage before gas entered the distribution mains. Crude gas left the scrubbers and passed through purifier boxes packed with iron oxide and lime, which removed the remaining sulphur compounds and other impurities. At the Bathurst Gasworks this stage ran continuously from 1888 to 1979 under council operation and from 1979 to 1987 under AGL. Manager A.G. Ambrose reported on the works to council across the 1910s, including a half-year to June 1917 in which 30,954,900 cubic feet of gas was produced. The purifier shed was the last station that gas passed through before leaving the site. It has not had gas through it since 1987.