Boiler Valves

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 4s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Cast iron valves, flanges, and pipe fittings cluster along a vertical manifold at White Bay Power Station. Steel grating at the base. A large cylindrical vessel dominates the right edge. Everything is grey with age and dust.

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.

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Boiler Valves
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-026
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 4s 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 boiler valves at White Bay Power Station sits along the steam main from one of the boilers, the cast-iron bodies bolted into the high-pressure line with flanged connections. Each valve is sized for the steam conditions of the original A Station boilers: 205 psi at 588 degrees Fahrenheit. The hand wheels are heavy cast-iron, the spokes painted in the standard plant green, worn to bare metal at the grip points. Brass nameplates on each valve body show the manufacturer specifications and the line designation. The pipework around the valves is supported by steel hangers from the structural framing above; the line lagging has been removed in places, exposing the bare steel underneath.

Boiler valves at White Bay handled isolation and regulation across the steam, feedwater, and drain circuits of the boiler installation. Operators worked these valves continuously through every operating shift, opening or closing the lines as boilers came online or went out for maintenance. The plant ran from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the valves were closed off and the steam mains drained. The valves themselves remain in place; heavy industrial cast-iron valves of this kind were not worth removing for scrap.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A cluster of cast-iron gate valves and stop valves sits bolted to a vertical steam header between the boiler face and a large cylindrical downpipe. Handwheels, flanged joints, and heavy couplings crowd together in close arrangement. Every surface carries a uniform grey patina of oxidation. Steel grating underfoot. A Kelvin gauge mount is visible near the top of the assembly. The light is flat, industrial, diffused through the boiler house structure behind.

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.