Rows of ammeters and protection relays line the wall, glass-covered gauges intact at White Bay Power Station. Each monitored the flow of electricity through the station's plant.

Ammeter Wall

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 0.8s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Rows of ammeters and protection relays line the wall, glass-covered gauges intact. Each monitored the flow of electricity through the station's plant. White Bay supplied Sydney's tram and suburban rail network from 1917 until the final shutdown on Christmas Eve 1983.

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

Ammeter Wall at White Bay Power Station, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Ammeter Wall at White Bay Power Station, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Ammeter Wall at White Bay Power Station, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Ammeter Wall
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-093
Process: Giclée
Captured: 27 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 0.8s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 297 × 210 mm
Location: Rozelle, 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

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

An ammeter wall at White Bay Power Station carries a full panel of current-measuring instruments, mounted floor-to-eye-level across one of the switchboard sections. The wall is a flat steel cabinet faced with the matte-finished switchboard standard of the plant, with the meters set into the panel at regular grid positions. Brass nameplates above each meter identify the circuit. The dials are GE or similar manufacturer's standard pattern, with the needles at their last operating positions. The lettering on the nameplates has worn at the most-read positions but is still legible. The lighting above the wall is fluorescent overhead.

White Bay's switchboards covered every electrical circuit in the plant: generators, busbars, transformers, outgoing feeders, station supply. The ammeter wall in this photograph monitored a specific section of that distribution, with the meters reading the current in each circuit continuously through every operating shift. The plant ran for 66 years from 1917 to Christmas Eve 1983. After closure the meters were de-energised but left mounted on the panels. The switchboard cabinets have stayed in place since.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Rows of glass-cased ammeters and relay instruments line both walls of a narrow corridor deep inside White Bay Power Station. Dozens of dials sit behind curved glass covers, their needles still. The left bank curves slightly outward under the weight of the metres. On the right, pale blue switchgear panels are labelled "Main Bus." Water stains bleed through the ceiling. A single window at the far end lets in weak light. The concrete floor is bare and scuffed.

Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

124 photographs

White Bay Power Station is a former coal-fired power station on Wanngal Country at Rozelle, at the head of White Bay on Sydney Harbour, built to power Sydney's trams and suburban trains and in service from May 1917 until December 1983. The New South Wales Department of Railways designed it in its own drawing office and began building in June 1912. The turbine hall, boilerhouse, switch house and control room stand on a 38,000 square metre site behind two steel chimney stacks, the main steelwork stamped with British manufacturers' names.

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.