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

Dark green corrugated iron covers the front wall and garage door of the nearest shack at Tin City. A low iron fence and a timber bench seat sit half swallowed by the dune pressing in from the right, the fence posts buried to roughly half their height. Sand moving against walls, fences and furniture left outside is one of the more visible pressures on the settlement.

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.

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Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

The Outskirts at Tin City, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

The Outskirts at Tin City, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

The Outskirts at Tin City, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

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: 297 × 210 mm
Location: Anna Bay, 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

Anna Bay, 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

37 photographs

Tin City is the local name for a group of huts behind the frontal dune on Stockton Bight, in the Worimi Conservation Lands between Newcastle and Port Stephens, New South Wales, on Worimi country. In 2015 there were 11, all single storey and clad in corrugated iron, with gable or skillion roofs. Most were built in the 1970s and 1980s; the oldest still standing that year dated from December 1970 and the youngest from 1992.

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.