Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.
Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.

Pump House Equipment

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
14mm · f/9.0 · 1/8 · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A long row of cast-iron pumps in the pump house, frames tinged with rust. The pumps moved circulating water from White Bay through the condenser system and back to the harbour. The station drew on the harbour continuously throughout its 66-year operational life.

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

Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.Pump House Equipment at White Bay Power Station, a narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Pump House Equipment
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-109
Process
Giclée
Captured
27 May 2016
Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/9.0
Shutter
1/8 s
ISO
100
Focal length
14 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

Equipment in the pump house at White Bay Power Station sits across a large open bay, the centrifugal pumps and motor drives arranged in rows on concrete plinths. Each pump unit carries a steel nameplate with the manufacturer's rating, the head, and the flow capacity. Suction and discharge pipework runs off either side of the volutes and connects to the main plant headers above. The pump motors are enclosed industrial pattern with external cooling fins. Cable trays overhead feed the terminal boxes. Several of the plinths are empty where pumps were removed during the 1990s decontamination; the bolt-hole patterns are still visible in the concrete.

The pump house served the seawater cooling circuit at White Bay Power Station. Harbour water was drawn in through the intake on the eastern side of the plant and circulated through the condenser shells to remove heat from the steam cycle. The pump house ran continuously across the station's operational life from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. Cooling-water pumps of this type ran at high flow rates and low head, sized to keep the condensers flooded at all times. After closure the pump house was progressively stripped during the 1990s decontamination. The surviving equipment is the residue of a plant that moved millions of litres of harbour water per hour.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A narrow service corridor runs between a row of heavy cast-iron pumps and a wall-mounted instrument panel. The pumps sit on raised concrete plinths, their flanged valve assemblies thick with verdigris and rust. Opposite, analogue gauges are bolted to a steel plate pocked with corrosion. The dials sit still. Grit covers the concrete floor. Overhead, steel cable trays and pipework run the full length of the corridor. Pale light enters from the far end.

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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