Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.
Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.

Switch House Reactors

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
21mm · f/8.0 · 8s · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Within the White Bay Power Station switch house, colossal reactors stand dormant. Peeling paint and corroded steel reveal decades of neglect. This defunct infrastructure once supplied power to Sydney's inner west.

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

Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.Switch House Reactors at White Bay Power Station, timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Switch House Reactors
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-069
Process
Giclée
Captured
13 November 2015
Camera
NIKON D7000
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/8.0
Shutter
8s 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 switch-house reactors at White Bay Power Station sits behind a glazed inspection screen, each unit a deep red cylindrical housing mounted on white ceramic insulators. The reactors are sized for high-voltage current handling, their bodies finned for heat dissipation. Each unit is labelled in hand-painted lettering on a small plate beside the housing, identifying the circuit and the rating. The ceramic insulators are still in place, supporting the reactors clear of the steel framework below. The glazing has dust on it and a hairline crack across one pane. The lighting inside the room is fluorescent overhead.

Reactors of this kind limited fault current in the high-voltage distribution circuits, protecting the generators and the transmission network from damage in the event of a short-circuit. The set at White Bay was part of the original switch house equipment, with replacements added across the plant's build phases. The switching ran continuously through every operating shift across the plant's working life from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the reactors were de-energised. The cylindrical housings, the ceramic insulators, and the hand-painted labels stayed in place. They have not carried current in over forty years.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Timber-framed glass doors encase five reactors in the White Bay Power Station Switch House, their surfaces clouded by years of dust and grime. Arranged in a perfect row, they almost appear to be displayed in a museum showcase, preserved behind glass as relics of a lost industrial age.

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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