Turbine Hall Alarms

Provenance

Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings: 21mm · f/8.0 · 3s · ISO 100
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A wall in the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station, its paint peeling and undisturbed. The generator fire alarm indicators sit at the top of the frame, their markings faded, and the water level alarm panel below carries its own arrangement of dials and switches, framed by corroded pipework. The handwash basin beneath is filled almost to the brim with decades of flaked paint.

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 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.

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In situ

Turbine Hall Alarms at White Bay Power Station, black-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Turbine Hall Alarms at White Bay Power Station, raw timber-framed print displayed in situ on a wall.

Turbine Hall Alarms at White Bay Power Station, glass print displayed in situ on a wall.

01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title: Turbine Hall Alarms
Series: White Bay Power Station
Catalogue: WBP-075
Process: Giclée
Captured: 13 November 2015
Camera: NIKON D7000
Lens: 14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter: 3s s
ISO: 100
Focal length: 21 mm
Paper: Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Paper size: 297 × 210 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

An alarm panel in the turbine hall at White Bay Power Station is mounted on a steel frame against the wall, a large rectangular cabinet fitted with rows of individual alarm windows in translucent plastic. Each window carries a label in engraved aluminium identifying the alarm point: bearing temperature high, lube oil pressure low, condenser vacuum low, turbine overspeed, and similar. The individual alarm windows are backlit by indicator lamps behind the panel. Acknowledge and reset buttons are fitted in a row below the alarm windows. Cable entries from the cable tray above run into the back of the cabinet through rubber-gasketed conduit entries. The alarm panel casing is painted signal red.

Turbine hall alarm systems at White Bay Power Station monitored the critical operating parameters of the Parsons turbines and gave operators warning of conditions that required action before damage occurred. Bearing temperature, lube oil pressure, cooling water flow, and rotor speed were all monitored continuously. Turbine protection was essential given the capital cost of the plant: a single Parsons turbine of the type installed at White Bay represented years of capital expenditure. The station ran from 1917 to Christmas Eve 1983 with the turbine plant progressively updated through the Phase 2 expansion (completed 1928) and the post-war Phase 3 and Phase 4 works (completed 1953 and 1958). After the shutdown the turbine hall alarm systems were left in place as part of the station's surviving operational record.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A white-painted brick column rises between tall industrial windows. Paint curls away from the brickwork in thick sheets, exposing grey mortar and rust stains beneath. Two small plaques near the top read "No.1 Generator CO₂ Fire Alarm" and "No.2 Generator CO₂ Fire Alarm." A dark metal control panel sits mid-height, its analogue gauge and indicator lights still intact. Below it, a pale green alarm box trails conduit down to the floor. Heavy iron pipework and valve assemblies crowd the column's base.

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.