Switch House Workbench

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

A long row of grey-painted workbenches along the back wall of the Switch House, scarred from maintenance work, heavy vises at intervals. Station engineers used this bench to maintain the electrical equipment. The Switch House was operational throughout White Bay's 66-year run.

Edition

Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

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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: Switch House Workbench
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-071
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 timber workbench in the switch house at White Bay Power Station runs along one wall of the electricians' workshop, the top a thick hardwood board worn smooth along the front edge and stained with solder, cable sheath strippings, and thread-cutting oil. A cast-iron vice is bolted to the left end of the bench, the jaw faces lined with copper inserts to avoid marking cable. A steel-framed rack above the bench carries cable drums in various sizes. Below the bench, timber drawers hold electrical hand tools in fitted trays. The workbench back carries a strip of power outlets and a fluorescent light batten fixture. A notice board above the outlets has a laminated single-line diagram of the switch house busbars pinned to the cork.

Switch house electricians at White Bay Power Station maintained the site's high-voltage protection and switchgear systems. The workbench was the day-to-day working surface for secondary wiring, relay setting, and instrumentation work. The switch house at White Bay housed the protection systems that isolated faulty sections of the tram and rail supply network automatically, preventing widespread outages from reaching the substations. White Bay ran from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983, supplying Sydney's tram and rail network and, after 1958, the wider NSW grid. The electricians' workshop was maintained throughout the station's operational life. After the Christmas Day 1983 shutdown and 1990s decontamination the workbench was left in place.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Grey-painted steel workbenches run the length of the back wall. Cabinet doors hang open, exposing hollow compartments thick with dust. The timber bench surfaces are scarred and stripped back. A single orange cubby sits open among a row of metal storage lockers on the left, the only warm colour against concrete and grey steel. Conduit runs along the stained upper wall. A pale blue door frame opens to another room on the far right. The concrete floor is bare.

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.