The Outskirts

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/8.0 · 1/50 · ISO 64
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Corrugated iron structures stand weathered on the dusty periphery of Tin City. Rusted fences lean, and scattered debris lies across the dry ground. Sparse vegetation pushes through the harsh environment.

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: The Outskirts
Series: Tin City
Catalogue: TCI-019
Process: Giclée
Captured: 31 January 2018
Camera: NIKON D850
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/50 s
ISO: 64
Focal length: 14 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

The outskirts of Tin City sit beyond the main shack cluster, where the last of the buildings meets the open dune field. A single shack stands here, walled in corrugated iron with a flat skillion roof, set on a slight rise above the surrounding sand. Beyond the shack, the dune field opens up and runs to the horizon in long parallel ridges. Wind ripples cover the upwind face of the nearest dune. There are no other structures in the frame. The settlement's main cluster is out of view to the south.

Tin City has shrunk from a 1930s Depression-era peak of around 36 to 38 shacks to 11 today. The outlying shacks were always the most exposed: less buffered from wind, more vulnerable to dune burial, and further from the social centre of the settlement. The Worimi Conservation Lands Plan of Management 2015 freezes the current number; if any of the remaining shacks is lost, it cannot be replaced. The shack in this photograph sits at the edge of what survives. The dune behind it is what the future of the site looks like at scale.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Sand dunes press against corrugated iron sheds on the outer edge of Tin City. A weathered timber post and a sheet of corrugated fencing disappear into the drift. The roller door is half-buried. Green water tanks sit on the roof behind. Wind ripples pattern the sand in fine parallel lines. The sky is flat and grey.

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.