Thirroul Beach Motel, Thirroul

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/2.8 · 4s · ISO 800
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The weathered sign of the Thirroul Beach Motel stands in Thirroul. Paint peels from its faded surface, revealing layers of past colours. This structure shows the quiet decline of a once-bustling coastal accommodation.

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 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: Thirroul Beach Motel, Thirroul
Series: Hotel Motel 101
Catalogue: HMO-103
Process: Giclée
Captured: 12 April 2018
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter: 4s s
ISO: 800
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: 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

New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

The Thirroul Beach Motel sits opposite the beach at Thirroul, on the Illawarra coast south of Sydney. The motel is a single-storey U-shape facing the road, with the rooms arranged around a central paved courtyard. The building is rendered concrete, painted pale pink along the eaves and pale cream below. The roof is corrugated iron. The rooms have small private patios facing the courtyard. A rusted Hills hoist stands in the back yard. The beach is across the road and below the rise; the motel was sited for a sea view from at least the upper rooms.

Brett Whiteley, the painter, died in room 4 of the Thirroul Beach Motel on 15 June 1992, from a heroin overdose. Room 4 appears in this photograph. The Thirroul Beach Motel is one of 101 traditional Australian motor inns photographed for Hotel Motel 101 across 2018. The series ran in three sweeps out of Sydney: north along the Central Coast, west through the Blue Mountains, south down the start of the South Coast. The Thirroul stretch sat at the end of the southern run. The Whiteley connection is widely written about, and Brett learned about it only after publishing the image; that the photograph happens to show the specific room is part of why the picture carries the weight it does.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A red brick motel with pastel coloured doors under a starlit sky.

Brett Patman

The series

Hotel Motel 101

2015–2020 · 103 photographs

Hotel Motel 101 is a series of one hundred and one motels photographed in 2018 across three runs out of Sydney. North to the Central Coast, west through the Blue Mountains to the central western tablelands, south down the NSW South Coast. The count crept up from a planned seventy toward the round number, plus one for safety.

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.