Sink

A cast-iron sink at White Bay Power Station is set into a timber bench frame in one of the plant's service areas. The sink has a single central drain and a high back of pressed metal. The tap fittings above the sink are heavy brass, the capstan head handles still in place on both hot and cold inlets. The sink body shows staining from decades of use: rust marks below the taps, scale deposits at the drain, and the original white enamel worn back to the cast iron along the base of the bowl. Wall tiles behind the sink are set in a pattern of white with occasional coloured borders, several cracked.

Sinks of this type were fitted in workshops, change rooms, crib rooms, and first aid stations throughout White Bay Power Station. Workers operating around Babcock and Wilcox boilers and Parsons turbines in conditions of heat, oil, and coal dust needed frequent access to washing facilities. The station employed several hundred workers at peak production periods and maintained a network of welfare facilities throughout the plant buildings. White Bay ran from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983 under the NSW Government Railways and, from January 1953, under the Electricity Commission of NSW. After the shutdown the plant facilities were progressively decommissioned during the 1990s. The heritage listing in April 1999 covered the station's industrial and social infrastructure.