Coal Weigher

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 27mm · f/8.0 · 1s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Inside White Bay Power Station, a coal weigher stands dormant. This precision instrument once measured the fuel feeding the plant's massive boilers, powering Sydney. Now, rust blooms on its dials and levers, a silent relic of a bygone industrial era.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

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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 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: Coal Weigher
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-034
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 1s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 27 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 weigher at White Bay Power Station sits at the receival end of the coal-handling system, the apparatus that recorded the quantity of coal arriving at the plant. The weigher is a heavy steel-framed platform with the load-cell mechanism below and the indicator panel at standing height beside the platform. A megawatt-output dial gauge on the panel sits at zero, an instrument that monitored generation against fuel consumption. The frame is bolted to the concrete pad of the receival hall, with the conveyor belt approaching from one side and exiting on the other. Steel handrails line the access walkway alongside the platform.

White Bay's coal arrived by ship at the wharf below the plant, was unloaded by gantry cranes, and passed across the weigher at the start of the coal-handling system. The weigher recorded the input quantity for billing and plant-balance purposes across the working life of the station from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the weigher was de-energised and the panel went dark. The dial gauge on the panel reads zero because no coal has passed across the platform in over forty years. The mechanism remains in place, bolted to the concrete pad where it was originally installed.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Beneath the towering coal bunkers of the White Bay Power Station Boiler House, an intricate web of pipes, chains, and steel structures tells the story of a long-dormant process. Each element once had a vital role in the seamless flow of fuel, directing coal into the mills below.

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.