Knife Switches

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 2.5s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Rows of knife switches on polished marble panels, hand-painted lettering fading on the faces. The handles controlled the station's auxiliary plant and equipment. Shadows stretch across the marble, cast by levers long since frozen in place.

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

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

Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Knife Switches at White Bay Power Station, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Knife Switches
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-051
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 2.5s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 21 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

A row of heavy knife switches lines a marble switchboard panel at White Bay Power Station. Each switch is labelled by hand. No. 4 Motor Genr. No. 3 Motor Genr. The stencilled lettering has faded but is still legible. Bakelite handles sit in the off position. The copper contact blades have turned brown with oxidation. Above them, round GE dial gauges face forward, their needles still. The marble has darkened in patches but the slabs are intact, bolted to the same steel frame they were fitted to in the early years of the plant. The switches have not been thrown in over forty years. The room around them is quiet.

The marble panels at White Bay carried the switchgear and the hand-painted labelling that went with it. Shadows stretch across the stone, cast by levers long since frozen in place. White Bay was built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 onwards and operated from 1917 until Christmas Eve 1983, generating traction current for Sydney's trams and parts of its rail network. It was completed in four phases, the last in 1958. The plant ran on its switchgear for 66 years. The marble has outlived most of the equipment it once controlled.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A row of heavy knife switches lines a marble switchboard panel, each labelled by hand. "No. 4 Motor Genr." "No. 3 Motor Genr." The stencilled lettering is faded but legible. Bakelite handles sit in the off position. Copper contact blades have turned brown with oxidation. Above them, round GE dial gauges crowd the upper section of the board. The marble is grey-white, cool-looking, its surface mottled with age. Light falls from the left, casting long shadows from every lever and bolt.

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.