Boiler House

The boiler house at White Bay Power Station is a vast steel-framed structure clad in corrugated metal, with the original boilers still partially in place at the lower levels. The building stands on the slope above White Bay, its full height visible from the harbour. Inside, the boilers are massive: cylindrical pressure vessels surrounded by burner ports, feed-water lines, and steam separators. The walkways around them are accessed by steel staircases at multiple levels. Most of the original equipment is intact; some has been removed for safety reasons during the long decommissioning.

The boilers at White Bay were among the largest of their generation in Australia. They burned coal delivered by ship to the wharf below, conveyed up by belt to the bunkers above the burner level. Steam from the boilers drove the turbines next door, which drove the generators, which fed the Sydney metropolitan grid. The plant was upgraded several times across its working life as generating capacity expanded. After 1983 the boilers were taken offline. The building in this photograph has been waiting for redevelopment for over forty years, the boilers still standing in their hall, the steel framework still doing the job it was built for.