Chimney Stacks And Boiler House

The chimney stacks and the boiler house at White Bay Power Station fill the frame, the chimneys rising above the long red-brick facade of the boiler house behind. The stacks are tall steel cylinders, painted dark, weathered along the prevailing wind side. The boiler house facade carries the rhythm of large glazed bays between brick piers, the windows reaching most of the height of the wall. Above the bays, castellated parapets carry the roofline. Steam funnels and stacks rise above the parapets. The whole composition is the seaward face of the plant, framed against the sky above White Bay.

White Bay Power Station was built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 onwards as a coal-fired plant supplying traction current to Sydney's trams and trains. The first generating sets came online in 1917. Further build phases followed, completed in 1928, 1953 and 1958, each adding boiler and generator capacity. The boiler house and the chimneys above it have been a visible part of the Sydney harbour skyline for over a century. The plant ran until Christmas Eve 1983. The site has been state-owned and largely vacant since closure. The chimneys are still visible from many vantage points across the harbour.