Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.
Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.

Valve Nest

Provenance

Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Settings
24mm · f/9.0 · 2.5s · ISO 100
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

A row of cast-iron valve hand wheels on the Turbine Hall operator level, coated in dust and corrosion. The valves controlled steam flow through the turbine system. Parsons turbines at White Bay converted that steam into mechanical energy from 1928 onward.

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

Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.Valve Nest at White Bay Power Station, a row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Valve Nest
Series
White Bay Power Station
Catalogue
WBP-118
Process
Giclée
Captured
27 May 2016
Camera
NIKON D810
Lens
14.0-24.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture
f/9.0
Shutter
2.5s s
ISO
100
Focal length
24 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 cluster of valves at White Bay Power Station hangs together in a small section of pipework, the bodies bolted to the steam mains and the hand wheels spaced close together against the wall. The valves are cast iron, painted in the standard industrial colours of the plant: green for water lines, red for steam, yellow for instrumentation. The hand wheels are mostly the standard cast-iron spoke pattern, with one or two of the larger wheels replaced with a later-generation flat steel disc. Brass nameplates on the valve bodies show the manufacturer specifications and the line designation. The pipework around the nest is supported by steel hangers from the ceiling above.

Valve nests are a common feature in large industrial plants where multiple parallel lines converge for distribution or isolation. The nest at White Bay handled the steam, feedwater, and condensate lines around one of the turbine units, with each valve isolating a specific section of plant for maintenance or rerouting flow under load. The valves ran continuously through every operating shift across the plant's working life from 1917 to Christmas Day 1983. After closure the valves were closed off and the lines drained. Heavy industrial valves of this kind were not worth removing relative to the cost of extraction. They remain.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

A row of cast-iron valve wheels lines the operator level of White Bay Power Station’s Turbine Hall, each frozen in place by time and corrosion. These controls once managed the steam flow, directing power through the massive turbines below.

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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