Boiler House Sink

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 36mm · f/8.0 · 1/80 · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A porcelain sink, marked by grime and rust, stands in the boiler house at White Bay Power Station. This Sydney landmark operated from 1912 until 1983.

Edition

Open edition

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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 3 to 5 business days. Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

Print datasheet

Title: Boiler House Sink
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-023
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 290 × 200 mm
Location: Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Where this was photographed

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

About this print

A heavy industrial sink sits along one wall of one of the boiler-house service areas at White Bay Power Station. The sink is white-glazed cast iron with a single tap fitting at chrome, the porcelain stained around the drain from decades of working use. A drainboard alongside the sink is the same glazed cast iron, sloped toward the drain. The wall behind the sink is tiled in pale green to waist height, the tiles cracked in places and missing one or two pieces. A small steel shelf above the sink holds the residue of working items: a soap dish, a cleaning brush, a small metal cup.

Industrial sinks were standard fittings in the working areas of large power stations, used for hand-washing between tasks and for cleaning the smaller items of maintenance work. The sink in this photograph served the boiler-house crew during shift, with hot and cold water on tap. White Bay operated from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983 across three build phases. After closure the sink stopped being used. The fittings, the tiles, and the residue of working items have stayed in place. The plumbing is no longer connected; the tap has not run in over forty years.

From the field notes

The aftermath of heavy rain transforms this long-abandoned workspace into an eerie, reflective pool. Water, unable to drain through a sink choked with decades of dust and debris, has overflowed onto the bench, creeping into the rotting timber beneath.

— Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

2015–2018 · 124 photographs

White Bay Power Station was the longest-serving of Sydney's metropolitan power stations. Construction began in 1912; it ran from 1917 until Christmas Day 1983. A coal-fired steam plant on the western edge of the harbour, it was extended in two further phases - 1923 to 1928, and 1945 to 1948 - and at peak employed around 500 to 600 people. It is now state-owned, mostly vacant, and opened occasionally for arts and film.

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