Backlit Reactors

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 1/15 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A row of high-voltage switch housings behind glass in the Switch House, their cabinet labels still painted. Despite the name, these were not nuclear reactors but high-voltage switching gear, directing electricity through the station's distribution network.

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.

$100.00 AUD

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: Backlit Reactors
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-005
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/15 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 21 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 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

A row of backlit reactor housings at White Bay Power Station sits in the reactor room, the deep-red cylinders mounted on ceramic insulators behind a glazed inspection screen. The lighting in the room is set to backlight the housings from behind, throwing the cylindrical silhouettes forward against the glass. Each reactor carries a hand-painted label identifying the circuit and the rating. The ceramic insulators hold the housings clear of the steel framework below. The glass screen between the operator and the reactors is dust-coated but mostly intact. Cable runs enter the housing assembly from the upper part of the room.

The reactor room held the current-limiting reactors of the plant's high-voltage distribution circuits. Each reactor restricted fault current to a level the upstream equipment could safely interrupt, protecting the generators and the transmission network. The room ran continuously through every operating shift across the plant's working life from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the reactors were de-energised and the room locked off. The cylindrical housings, the ceramic insulators, and the hand-painted labels stayed where they were. The backlighting that gives the room its character was part of the operator's working environment.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

High-voltage reactor switches stand in glass-panelled enclosures, backlit by cold blue light that floods through the station's western wall. Ceramic insulators sit at the base of each unit. Metal contact arms hang motionless above them. A label on the lower left reads "Feeder Bus Sec 6-7." Dust coats every surface. The steel frames are heavy with rust.

Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

2015–2018 · 124 photographs

Bricklayers laid 3.7 million bricks at White Bay across three and a quarter years of Phase 1 construction, on Wanngal Country at the western edge of Rozelle. The New South Wales Government Railways ran the build through its own Construction Department. By 3 July 1913, boilers and alternators were running before the buildings that housed them were complete.

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.