Boiler Feed Valves

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 2.5s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A row of cast iron gate valves and flanged pipe manifolds lines the boiler hall wall at White Bay Power Station. Rust coats every fitting. Hand wheels remain in place. Brick rises floor to ceiling behind them.

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: Boiler Feed Valves
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-014
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 2.5s 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 bank of boiler feed valves at White Bay Power Station sits along the feed-water line, the cast-iron valve bodies bolted into the steam pipe with flanged connections. Each valve carries a hand wheel above the body, the spokes of the wheel painted in the standard cast-iron grey, the rim worn to bare metal at the operator's grip points. Brass nameplates on each valve body show the manufacturer's specifications and the line designation. Some of the wheels are in the fully open position; others are partly closed. Pipework runs above and below the valves, the supporting steelwork bolted into the building's structural framing.

Boiler feed valves controlled the supply of feedwater to the boilers, allowing operators to isolate individual boilers for maintenance or to regulate flow under load. The valves at White Bay were part of the original 1917 fit-out with replacements added across the plant's expansion phases in 1923-1928 and 1945-1948. The plant ran until Christmas Day 1983. After closure, the boilers were drained and the valves left in their last positions. Heavy industrial valves of this kind were not worth removing for scrap value relative to the cost of extracting them from the pipework. They remain.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A row of corroded boiler feed valves, once the gatekeepers of steam production, now frozen in rust. These valves controlled the precise flow of water into the boilers, ensuring a constant supply to the water walls where intense heat transformed it into steam.

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.