Stairs Down

A concrete stair runs down into the lower levels of the Bathurst Gasworks. The treads are worn at the centre and chipped at the edges, with each step carrying a slight dish where decades of foot traffic settled the surface. Coal covers the steps, the handrails, and everything below: the entire building accumulated coal in the granular residue of decades of feed handling, and the lower levels hold the heaviest deposits. Rust stains mark the steel handrails where the paint failed and water tracked down. The walls are brick, rendered in places, with the lower courses darker from the moisture that pools below ground level. The stairwell narrows as it descends.

Lower levels at a coal-gas plant housed the heavier service runs, the tar collection points, and the foundations of the retort house above. The Bathurst Gasworks ran coal carbonisation from 1888 to 1979 and AGL LPG reforming from 1979 to 1987. Stairs like this one were used every shift by operators checking gauges, draining condensate, and managing the lower-level equipment. After 1987 the stairs were used by remediation crews, contamination surveyors, and security contractors. Jemena took on the lease in 2008 and have made no operational use. WSP Australia has had personnel through the site since 2022. The stair is still walkable. Most of what it leads down to is not in operating condition.