Turbine Hall Basement

The lower level of the turbine hall at Geelong B Power Station sits in near-silence, rust working across every metal surface, dust settled thick on what the stripping crews left behind. Light drops in from above, picking out mounting bolts, cable runs, and the massive concrete structures that once supported the turbine and condenser. The photograph was made in 2012, more than four decades after the last generator turned. Geelong B Power Station was a "packaged" station, the entire plant purchased from the United States and erected under contract for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. It was an unusual arrangement for Australia at the time: three boilers positioned outdoors, with only the operating face enclosed within the main building. The turbine hall itself is a multi-storeyed structure, approximately 22.5 metres high and 90 metres long, sitting on the edge of Corio Bay at 50 Mackey Street, North Geelong. The station opened on 8 October 1954, officially commissioned by the Hon. J.W. Galbally MLC, Minister in Charge of Electrical Undertakings. At the time of opening it was the largest power station in Victoria outside the Latrobe Valley, with three boiler-generator sets each rated at 10,000 kW, for a total capacity of 30,000 kW. Cooling water came directly from Corio Bay. Each boiler produced 110,000 pounds of steam per hour at 625 psi. By the early 1960s the station had been relegated to peak-load generation only. Running costs were high relative to the newer Latrobe Valley stations, and the station operated only during periods of peak demand. It closed in 1970. The generating equipment was stripped; the building shell was retained and left derelict. The turbine hall stood empty for 44 years before a temporary art project occupied the space in late 2014. The 2012 photographs predate that intervention. What the frame records is the building as it was before any reuse was attempted: stripped, rusting, and unchanged since the SECV walked away.