White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.
White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.

White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
21mm · f/8.0 · 13s · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Massive boiler water valves stand silent within the White Bay Power Station. Rust and grime coat the intricate pipework, evidence of decades of industrial operation that once powered Sydney.

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
Size
Type
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

White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast iron gate valves.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
White Bay Power Station Boiler Water Valves – Industrial Print
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-028
Process
Giclée
Captured
13 November 2015
Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
13s 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 cluster of boiler water valves at White Bay Power Station sits along the feedwater line, the cast-iron bodies threaded together on the pipe with the hand wheels facing the operator's working position. Each valve carries a brass nameplate giving the manufacturer specifications and the line designation. The hand wheels are heavy cast-iron, the spokes painted in the standard pale industrial green of the plant, the rims worn back to bare metal at the operator's grip points. The pipework around the valves is supported by steel hangers from the structural framing above; the lagging around the lines has been removed in places, exposing the bare steel underneath.

Boiler water valves controlled the feedwater supply to the boilers across the operating range of the plant. The feedwater system at White Bay handled millions of litres per shift, with the valves isolating boilers for maintenance and regulating flow under load. The valves ran continuously across the working life of the plant from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the system was drained and the valves closed. The feedwater lines and the valves themselves remain in place; heavy industrial cast-iron plant of this kind was not worth removing.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A row of cast iron gate valves lines the brick wall of the boiler house, each fitted with a spoked handwheel. Rust has claimed every surface. Thick flanged pipework runs horizontally at floor level, supported by steel cradles bolted to the concrete. The brickwork behind carries dark staining where heat and moisture worked into the mortar for decades. Light enters low from the left, catching the oxidised texture of each valve body and the heavy bolts that hold the joints together.

Brett Patman

White Bay Power Station

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.

Anatomy · true ratio
07 MORE FROM WHITE BAY POWER STATION

123 other prints in this series

All prints
Control Room at White Bay Power Station, a curved control console wraps across the room in a wide arc.
Control Room $100.00
Turbine Hall at White Bay Power Station, reinforced concrete walls rise three storeys on each side, their surfaces stained.
Turbine Hall $100.00
Glass Curtain at White Bay Power Station, a towering mosaic of glass and steel, where light filters through dust-streaked.
Glass Curtain $100.00
Turbine and Condenser at White Bay Power Station, a steam turbine and its condenser sit on the operating floor of White Bay.
Turbine and Condenser $100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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