Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.
Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.

Testing Room

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
14mm · f/9.0 · 1/13 · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Within White Bay Power Station, a testing room stands silent. A console of intricate dials and gauges, now covered in dust, reflects the plant's long-dormant operations.

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.
See certificate sample →

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In situ

Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.Testing Room at White Bay Power Station, white glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Testing Room
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-112
Process
Giclée
Captured
27 May 2016
Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/9.0
Shutter
1/13 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
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

The testing room at White Bay Power Station is a purpose-built space fitted with a steel-framed testing bench running along the centre of the room. The bench carries instrument terminals in rows of brass studs, each labelled in engraved aluminium plates. A multi-range voltmeter and an ammeter in heavy Bakelite cases are fixed to the bench panel board. Cable connection points are arranged in groups corresponding to the switchgear bay numbering used across the rest of the switch house. A high-voltage warning notice is fixed to the wall beside the bench. Overhead the room has separate lighting and a ventilation grille. The floor is anti-static rubber matting in a chequerboard pattern, cracked along the seams.

Relay and instrument testing rooms at White Bay Power Station provided a controlled environment for calibrating the protection relays and instrumentation that monitored the plant's high-voltage circuits. At White Bay the protection system had to respond correctly when faults developed on the tram and rail supply network, isolating damaged sections quickly to prevent damage to the turbines and switchgear. The station ran from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983 and accumulated a full complement of relay equipment across the A, B, and C Station build phases completed between 1912 and 1948. After the January 1953 transfer to the Electricity Commission of NSW, relay standards across the site were progressively updated. The testing room supported that ongoing maintenance programme.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

White glazed tiles line the walls to shoulder height. Above, bare brick and flaking plaster. Two tall windows of wired glass let in a flat, diffused light that falls across the brick-paved floor. A steel cabinet stands open on the left, its doors heavy, its shelves empty. Against the far wall, a metal workbench sits beneath a tangle of pipes and a small water tank. A basin is mounted at bench height. Grit and debris cover every surface.

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
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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