Facing South

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 70mm · f/2.8 · 1/400 · ISO 64
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Weathered corrugated iron shacks of Tin City stand on the Stockton Bight dunes. The perspective extends south, revealing the vast, empty coastline. These structures embody a history of resourcefulness.

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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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: Facing South
Series: Tin City
Catalogue: TCI-026
Process: Giclée
Captured: 1 February 2018
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter: 1/400 s
ISO: 64
Focal length: 70 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Lake Macquarie, 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

Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Tin City facing south, the line of shacks running away from the camera in a low row along the dune ridge. The southerly wind that drives most of the dune movement on the Stockton Bight comes from this direction, hitting the south-facing ends of the shacks first. The view runs across roof lines, sand paths, and the small gaps between adjacent buildings. The settlement reads compact from this angle, with the open beach to one side and the deep dune field to the other. The smaller end walls of the shacks take the wind; the long walls are sheltered between adjacent buildings.

The Stockton Bight runs roughly north-south, and the prevailing southerly drives sand up the coast in long persistent gusts. The Depression-era squatters and the post-war rebuilders learned this; the buildings that survived are the ones whose orientation worked. The 11 remaining shacks sit on Worimi country, on land returned to Worimi Local Aboriginal Land Council ownership on 1 February 2007 and now jointly managed with NSW NPWS. The Worimi Conservation Lands Plan of Management 2015 freezes the count and the locations: no new shacks, no rebuilding after destruction. What faces south now will keep facing south until it stops.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Sand drifts between corrugated iron shacks, banking up against walls and burying the base of a small wind turbine. The turbine leans on its timber pole, braced with steel stays. Patched panels of green, grey, and rust-red iron line the narrow passage. Beyond, a low-slung cabin sits against a backdrop of pale dunes and heavy cloud. Scraps of roofing material lie half-covered in the sand. Sparse tufts of grass hold on where they can.

Brett Patman

The series

Tin City

2018 · 37 photographs

Two tin sheds were put up on the Stockton Bight dunes in the late nineteenth century to hold provisions for sailors shipwrecked on the beach. During the Great Depression a group of squatters built a series of shacks around them. The settlement that grew became Tin City, on Worimi country, in the largest mobile coastal sand mass in the Southern Hemisphere.

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.