Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.
Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.

Generators And Knife Switches

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
21mm · f/8.0 · 3s · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A row of generators in the Switch House, cast-iron casings layered in dust, light from a broken window falling across them. The Switch House housed auxiliary generation and switching equipment. It was part of the B Station expansion that ran from 1923 to 1928.

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

Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.Generators And Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Generators And Knife Switches
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-049
Process
Giclée
Captured
13 November 2015
Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
3s 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 row of generator switchboards at White Bay Power Station carries the heavy knife switches that connected each generator to the station busbar. Each switchboard is a tall marble panel mounted in a steel frame, with the knife switches set at chest height, the copper blades polished or oxidised depending on use. Above each switch, a row of round GE dial gauges shows voltage, current, and power. The hand-painted labels above the switches identify each generator and the circuit it fed. The generators themselves sit further back in the turbine hall; the switchboards are the visible interface in the control room. The marble has darkened in patches but the slabs are intact.

The generator knife switches were the heaviest manually-operated switching at the plant, sized for the full output current of each generator. Operators worked them only at scheduled times: starting a unit, taking it offline for maintenance, transferring load between machines. White Bay was built in four phases completed in 1917, 1928, 1953 and 1958, and the switchgear changed across them as new alternators came on line. The plant closed on Christmas Eve 1983. The switches have not been thrown since. The marble switchboards are one of the most architecturally legible parts of the control room.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Three generators sit bolted to concrete plinths, their cast-iron housings split open to expose copper windings inside. Rust bleeds across every surface. Behind them, a marble switchboard covers the full wall, crowded with knife switches, rotary dials, and control levers still mounted in rows. A label reads "No. 1 Battery Booster." Broken windows at the far end let in a thin wash of daylight. Debris and fine dust coat the floor.

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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