Roto Feeder

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
Settings: 51mm · f/13.0 · 0.8 sec · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A disused Roto Feeder stands inside the abandoned Bradmill Denim factory. Rust colours the heavy machinery, from the site's textile manufacturing years in Footscray.

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

Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

See certificate sample →

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In situ

Roto Feeder at Bradmill Denim, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Roto Feeder at Bradmill Denim, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Roto Feeder at Bradmill Denim, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Roto Feeder
Series: Bradmill Denim
Catalogue: BDE-022
Process: Giclée
Captured: 18 March 2012
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED
Aperture: f/13.0
Shutter: 0.8 sec s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 51 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Yarraville, Victoria, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Yarraville, Victoria, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The Roto-Feeder was part of the stoker system that automated coal feed into the boilers, metering solid fuel at a controlled rate into the firebox. Bradmill was running at industrial scale through the 1970s and the boiler plant that maintained steam pressure across the spinning and weaving operations was central to everything. Cheap imports pushed the business into receivership in the early 2000s. By March 2012, the cast iron body of the feeder was coated in a decade of settled dust and corrosion, its inspection door hanging open on corroded hinges, revealing nothing but darkness inside the firebox.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A Babcock Detroit Roto-Feeder sits square in the frame, its cast iron face blackened with decades of coal dust and heat scale. The inspection door hangs open on corroded hinges, revealing nothing but darkness inside the firebox. Rust bleeds orange across the lower panels. Valve handles, bolts, and small gauge housings crowd the surface. A coal hopper descends from above. Every surface carries a thick film of soot and grease.

Brett Patman

The series

Bradmill Denim

2011 · 52 photographs

The Bradford family founded Bradford Cotton Mills in Sydney in 1927. The company expanded into Victoria in 1940, began producing denim in 1945, and grew into Bradmill Industries Ltd. The Yarraville factory on Francis Street was the country's only indigo denim mill.

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.