Blowers

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/8.0 · 2.5s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Two induced draft fans, 5 BLR West and 5 BLR East, face each other across a riveted steel column inside the Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories, their corrugated metal housings fronted by red and white safety barriers and most surfaces covered in rust. The central column splits the space into near-symmetry, and the fans served the brown-coal boiler plant.

Edition

Open edition

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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: Blowers
Series: Morwell Power Station
Catalogue: MPS-031
Process: Giclée
Captured: 14 April 2017
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 2.5s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Morwell, Victoria, Australia
Authenticity: C2PA verified provenance →
Recognised by: Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards

02 LOCATION

Morwell, Victoria, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Induced draft fans 5 BLR West and 5 BLR East face each other across a riveted steel column inside the Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories, their housings clad in corrugated metal and fronted by red and white safety barriers. Dust and debris coat the 2 square floor panels between them, and rust has worked across most exposed surfaces. Both fans share an identical profile, the central column splitting the space into near-perfect bilateral symmetry. The corrugated cladding is uniformly weathered and the floor grating is worn.

The 5 BLR fans served the boiler plant, the water tube boilers specifically adapted for burning brown coal that the Victorian Heritage Register cites as rare survivors of their class. That plant, with its ash handling and steel chimneys, was supplied by Mitchell Engineering Group Ltd. of London under the 1950 contract. The boilers were part of a complex that produced electricity from December 1958 until the last boiler and turbine were taken off on 8 September 2014. Brett photographed the 5 BLR draft fans on 14 April 2017, in the closed complex before the demolition program began.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Two induced-draft fans sit in mirrored bays either side of a riveted steel column. Signage marks them as Boiler 5, West and East I.D. fans. The housings are heavy-gauge steel, diamond-braced, each taller than a person. Red chevron-striped valves stand at the base. Confined space warnings hang on both units. The concrete floor is dark with decades of grime, steel access hatches set flush into its surface. Bare brick walls press in behind the machinery.

Brett Patman

The series

Morwell Power Station

1949-2014 · 79 photographs

The State Electricity Commission of Victoria built Morwell as the centrepiece of its postwar plan to sever Victoria's reliance on black coal from New South Wales. Construction ran from 1949 to 1959; electricity production commenced in December 1958 and the first commercial briquettes followed in December 1959. With the demolition of Old Yallourn between 1995 and 1999, Morwell became the earliest surviving large-scale Victorian state-grid power station, registered on the Victorian Heritage Register as H2377 on 1 March 2018.

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.