Boiler Water Wall

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 14mm · f/9.0 · 30s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The exposed water wall of Boiler No. 1, closely spaced steel tubes running in parallel across the face of the furnace with a riveted header spanning them. The tubes absorbed radiant heat from the burning coal and turned the water inside to high pressure steam, which drove the turbines. Bolted joints and sweeping bends carry the marks of the heat they once held.

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.

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Colour

Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

Boiler Water Wall at White Bay Power Station, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Boiler Water Wall at White Bay Power Station, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Boiler Water Wall at White Bay Power Station, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Boiler Water Wall
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-101
Process: Giclée
Captured: 27 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 30s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 14 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 297 × 210 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

Steel tubes curve and run in tight parallel rows across the face of Boiler No. 1's water wall at White Bay Power Station. A heavy riveted header spans the centre, studded with connection points where each tube enters the drum. Below, bent pipes sweep downward through open steel grating. Oxidation has coloured the metal in shades of deep brown and ochre. The detail of the boiler face reads as engineered geometry. Every tube is in the position it was installed in. Nothing has been removed. The boiler has not been fired in over forty years.

White Bay was a coal-fired plant built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 and operated from 1917 until Christmas Eve 1983. Boilers like this one converted the heat from burning coal into the high-pressure steam that drove the Parsons turbines on the floor below. The water wall was the structural face of the boiler, holding the water that heated to steam. White Bay was extended through further build phases, completed 1928, 1953 and 1958, each adding to the boiler and turbine capacity. The site has been state-owned and largely vacant since the closure. The boilers are still in the boiler house, stripped of cladding in places but otherwise in position.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Steel tubes curve and run in tight parallel rows across the face of Boiler No. 1's water wall. A heavy riveted header spans the centre, studded with connection points where each tube enters the drum. Below, bent pipes sweep downward through open steel grating. Oxidation colours the metal in shades of brown, grey, and dull blue. Every surface carries a fine layer of soot and scale.

Brett Patman

The series

White Bay Power Station

124 photographs

White Bay Power Station is a former coal-fired power station on Wanngal Country at Rozelle, at the head of White Bay on Sydney Harbour, built to power Sydney's trams and suburban trains and in service from May 1917 until December 1983. The New South Wales Department of Railways designed it in its own drawing office and began building in June 1912. The turbine hall, boilerhouse, switch house and control room stand on a 38,000 square metre site behind two steel chimney stacks, the main steelwork stamped with British manufacturers' names.

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.