Metropolitan Vickers

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/8.0 · 1.3s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A Metropolitan Vickers nameplate cast with 'Manchester. England' on a large motor at Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories, its pale green paint peeled back to bare rust. The motor was a variable speed drive controlling dryer rotation speed to regulate moisture in the coal output. Metropolitan Vickers of Manchester supplied the station's turbo generators.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

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A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

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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: Metropolitan Vickers
Series: Morwell Power Station
Catalogue: MPS-070
Process: Giclée
Captured: 15 April 2017
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1.3s 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

A Metropolitan Vickers nameplate sits on the flank of a large motor at Morwell Power Station and Briquette Factories, with 'Manchester. England' cast beneath it. The pale green paint peels back to bare rust across the housing. The plate and the casting are the whole subject of the frame, the motor filling it behind them. The surface is worn down to metal in patches, the lettering still legible against the corrosion.

The Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Export Co. Ltd. of Manchester supplied the station's turbo generators under the 1950 contract, two back pressure machines of 30,000 kilowatts each, with feed heating plant. Motors carrying the same maker's plate ran across the complex. Here a variable speed drive motor controlled dryer rotation speed to regulate moisture in the coal output, targeting around 15 per cent, with faster rotation raising the moisture and slower rotation lowering the reading. Brett photographed the Metropolitan Vickers motor on 15 April 2017, in the closed briquette factory before the demolition program began.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. Ltd, Manchester, England. The nameplate is still readable. Somewhere in Manchester there's a record of who built this, when, and to what specification.

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.