Bar Billiards

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 24mm · f/8.0 · 1/5 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A bar billiards table in the station's entertainment hall, gathering dust in the afternoon light. Bar billiards has no corner pockets; points are scored by potting through hoops on the cloth. Station workers used this hall throughout White Bay's 66-year operational life.

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.

$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.

See certificate sample →

Shipping Free shipping over $250. Ships worldwide, rates calculated at checkout.

Returns Damaged in transit? We replace it. Full policy →

Ships within 10 business days · signed & numbered

In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Bar Billiards
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-007
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/5 s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 24 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 bar billiards table sits in the entertainment hall at White Bay Power Station, the heavy timber-framed cabinet set on cast-iron legs against the wall. The table is the standard British bar billiards design: a smaller-than-snooker green-felt playing surface with the corner pockets replaced by raised holes for skittles, the cue rest at one end. The felt is worn through in patches where the most-used line of play passed; the timber rails are scuffed at hand height. Cue racks on the wall behind the table still hold the original cues, the leather tips dried out. A small coin slot in the side of the cabinet was the original pay-to-play mechanism.

Bar billiards was a feature of British and Australian industrial workforce culture through the mid-twentieth century, with tables installed in works canteens, clubs, and union halls. White Bay's table was part of the workforce welfare infrastructure for the 500-to-600-strong shift staff, alongside the dart boards elsewhere in the hall. The table saw heavy use across the plant's working decades from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the entertainment hall stopped being used. The table has stayed against its wall. The coin slot has not taken a coin in over forty years.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A coin-operated bar billiards table sits on worn timber floorboards, its green felt torn and faded. A mechanical scoring dial rests at the near end, its needle still pointing to a final tally. Stacked window frames lean against the far wall. Painted murals of coastal landscapes peel away from damp plaster between rows of multi-pane windows. Afternoon light falls through the glass in hard rectangles across the floor. The ceiling is open timber truss. The air looks thick with dust.

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.