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. Marble was the standard insulating medium for high-voltage electrical installations of the era.

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.

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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: 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: 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 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.

Marble switchboards like this one were standard in early-twentieth-century power stations. The stone was non-conductive, durable, and easy to drill for the brass and copper bus-bars that ran behind it. White Bay was built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 onwards and operated from 1917 until Christmas Day 1983, generating traction current for Sydney's trams and parts of its rail network. Two further build phases were completed by 1948. 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

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.