Coal Conveyor

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 1/320 · ISO 160
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The brick facade at the junction where the external coal conveyor from the Coal Handling Shed met the boilerhouse conveyor at a 90-degree turn. Coal arrived by rail, was lifted to the bunkers, and fed into the boilers. The site was selected in part for its direct rail access.

Edition

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In situ

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Coal Conveyor
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-032
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1/320 s
ISO: 160
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

The coal conveyor at White Bay Power Station ran from the wharf below the plant up to the bunkers above the boilers, an enclosed steel gallery on pylons that lifted millions of tonnes of coal across the plant's working life. The gallery is corrugated steel, supported on lattice columns, sloping up at a steady gradient. From inside the gallery, the long view through the conveyor extends to the bunker level, the belt long since removed, the rollers still in place. Steel handrails line the maintenance walkway alongside the belt position.

White Bay's coal arrived by ship at the wharf below the plant, unloaded by gantry cranes onto the receival belt at the base of the conveyor. From there it travelled up the gallery to the bunkers, dropped into the burner zone, and burned to raise steam. The conveyor moved coal continuously through every operating shift for sixty-six years. After 1983 the conveyor was shut down at the same time as the boilers. The belt was removed. The frame remained. The gallery in this photograph is part of the structural skeleton of the original plant, still suspended above the harbour-side wharf where it was first installed.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The brick facade of White Bay Power Station's boiler house rises five storeys from ground level. Seen from below, the wall is a patchwork of grey and pale red brick, moisture-stained in broad streaks. A corrugated steel panel covers one window opening. At the roofline, a rusted steel coal conveyor housing juts out from the building. Sun catches its panelled face. Cross-braced steelwork flanks it on both sides. The sky behind is hard blue.

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.