Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.
Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.

Transformer Yard

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
14mm · f/9.0 · 1/125 · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

The Transformer Yard between the Switch House and Control Room, sunlight casting geometric shadows across overgrown ground. The transformers here distributed electricity at the voltages required by the tram and rail network. The yard has been receding to vegetation since the 1983 shutdown.

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

Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.Transformer Yard at White Bay Power Station, a narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Transformer Yard
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-113
Process
Giclée
Captured
27 May 2016
Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/9.0
Shutter
1/125 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

The transformer yard at White Bay Power Station is a fenced compound containing large oil-immersed power transformers on concrete plinths, each unit in a corrugated steel tank with cable boxes at the base and porcelain bushings extending upward from the high-voltage terminals. Overhead line gantries carry the buswork between the transformer terminals and the site switchgear. Oil-containment bunding forms the perimeter of each transformer bay. The steel blast walls between bays are reinforced concrete faced. A vehicle access gate in the compound fence is double-leaf steel palisade. The concrete plinths carry oil drain grooves that run to a catchment pit at the low corner of each bay.

Transformer yards at White Bay Power Station converted the station's generated voltage for distribution to the tram and rail substations across Sydney. White Bay's alternators and turbines generated at a lower voltage than the transmission system required, and the power transformers stepped the output up to distribution voltage. The station was built from 1912 by the NSW Government Railways, with the transformer plant developed across the four station build phases completed in 1917, 1928, 1953 and 1958. White Bay supplied Sydney's tram and rail network from 1917 and the wider NSW grid after 1958. After the Christmas Day 1983 shutdown and 1984 decommissioning, the transformer yard equipment was assessed during the 1990s decontamination. Heritage listing followed in April 1999.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A narrow concrete corridor runs between the Switch House and the main station building. Brick walls rise on both sides, three storeys high, their surfaces weathered to shades of brown and grey. Steel rails sit flush with the ground, set into the concrete at regular intervals. A rusted electrical fixture clings to the left wall, its housing split open, a spray-painted yellow circle marking it at chest height. Hard morning light cuts sharp diagonal shadows across the path. The air looks dry and still.

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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