Offices

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
21mm · f/8.0 · 6s · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Frosted glass and boarded windows in the administration building, light falling across peeling floorboards. These offices managed the administrative operation of a station that ran under the NSW Railway Commissioners from 1917 and the Electricity Commission of NSW from January 1953.

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

Offices at White Bay Power Station, frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime.Offices at White Bay Power Station, frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime.Offices at White Bay Power Station, frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime.Offices at White Bay Power Station, frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime.Offices at White Bay Power Station, frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Offices
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-054
Process
Giclée
Captured
13 November 2015
Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
6s 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
Recognised by
National Trust of Australia (NSW), 2016 Heritage Award, Multimedia
02 LOCATION

Rozelle, New South Wales, Australia

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

A corridor of offices in the administration block at White Bay Power Station runs along the upper floor of the sandstone building, with the office doors set into the corridor wall at regular intervals. Each office is fitted out with a single desk, a built-in bookshelf, a wall-mounted clock, and a single window looking out across the plant. The corridor flooring is vinyl tile in a small geometric pattern; the walls are painted plasterboard above a dado of dark-stained timber. The lighting is fluorescent overhead, much of it dead. Small enamel name plates on each office door identify the former occupant by name and role; most are still in place.

The administration block held the office staff of White Bay across the working life of the plant: clerks, engineers, accountants, the station manager and his secretary, the supervisors and the auxiliary trades. The offices ran continuously from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the block was wound down. Personal effects were removed; the furniture, the bookshelf contents, and the name plates were largely left in place. The site has been opened occasionally for arts and film since, including the 2024 Biennale of Sydney.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Frosted glass panels line the partition wall, their surface clouded with grime. Light pushes through from an adjacent room, hard and low, catching the concrete floor. A narrow corridor opens between timber-clad walls where paint has cracked and lifted in long vertical strips. Electrical fittings sit dead on the wall above. A rolled section of carpet or linoleum lies in the doorway. The floor is bare, layered with fine dust and debris.

Brett Patman

White Bay Power Station

The series

White Bay Power Station

2015–2018 · 124 photographs

White Bay Power Station ran on the western harbour edge at Rozelle from 1917 until production ceased on Christmas Day 1983. Built in three phases over thirty-six years to supply Sydney's electric tramways and then the city grid. The complex was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register in 1999.

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
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