Turbine

1 review

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 15mm · f/9.0 · 1.3s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A colossal turbine dominates the vast hall of White Bay Power Station. This industrial monument, once vital to Sydney's electricity supply, stands silent since the plant's 1983 decommissioning.

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

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: Turbine
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-114
Process: Giclée
Captured: 27 May 2016
Camera: NIKON D810
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/9.0
Shutter: 1.3s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 15 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 Parsons steam turbine sits anchored to the floor of the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station, the casing painted in the pale industrial green of the wider plant. Bolted flanges and inspection covers run along the upper surface of the casing. Copper pipework, valve wheels, and the gauge cluster of the turbine front end cluster on the leading face. The unit is bolted to a concrete plinth that goes deep into the floor. The hall around the turbine runs the length of the building, the steel-truss roof overhead, large windows along both sides. The casing colour has darkened to bare metal in patches where the paint has worn back.

White Bay Power Station was built by the NSW Government Railways and Tramways from 1912 onwards and ran from 1917 until Christmas Day 1983, supplying traction current to Sydney's tram and rail network. Parsons turbines were the standard generating unit at the plant, with later 50 MW Parsons sets running through the final decades of service. Steam from the boilers in the building next door drove the turbines, which drove the alternators, which fed Sydney's transport network. The turbine in this photograph was one of the units that drove the city for decades. It has not turned since the plant closed.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The Parsons turbine dominates the White Bay Power Station Turbine Hall, its immense steel casings weathered by time. Rusted ducts curve overhead, once channeling high-pressure steam to drive Sydney’s rail and tram network.

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.