• Control desk. This is the brains of the operation. This controlled the turbine hall and energy distribution to the Inner West tram and train network. You can also see a telephone to contact the other power stations on the desk on the right. Hand piece was stolen years ago. © Brett Patman
    Control desk. This is the brains of the operation. This controlled the turbine hall and energy distribution to the Inner West tram and train network. You can also see a telephone to contact the other power stations on the desk on the right. Hand piece was stolen years ago. © Brett Patman
  • Leaky tap. It's not really a leaking tap. It's leaking rainwater. Some nice moss for bonsai in the background there. Nature always wins. © Brett Patman
    Leaky tap. It's not really a leaking tap. It's leaking rainwater. Some nice moss for bonsai in the background there. Nature always wins. © Brett Patman
  • Entertainment room. This is at the Victoria Road entrance to the plant. A big, long room where the hard-working power plant staff cooled down after a hard day next to the furnaces. Kind of looks like the ultimate man cave in a power station 50 years ago. It has built-in speakers in the walls, a kitchen and even still a couple of old ping pong tables and something that looks like table soccer but from 50 years ago. No Wi-Fi unfortunatley. Notice the old murals on the wall and the stage? Most of the side wall murals have been washed away from when the asbestos roof was removed a few years ago. © Brett Patman
    Entertainment room. This is at the Victoria Road entrance to the plant. A big, long room where the hard-working power plant staff cooled down after a hard day next to the furnaces. Kind of looks like the ultimate man cave in a power station 50 years ago. It has built-in speakers in the walls, a kitchen and even still a couple of old ping pong tables and something that looks like table soccer but from 50 years ago. No Wi-Fi unfortunatley. Notice the old murals on the wall and the stage? Most of the side wall murals have been washed away from when the asbestos roof was removed a few years ago. © Brett Patman
  • Turbine Hall. The turbine hall in all its glory. This is the big building you can see on Victoria Road. You can just see the only remaining turbine all alone at the back of the hall. © Brett Patman
    Turbine Hall. The turbine hall in all its glory. This is the big building you can see on Victoria Road. You can just see the only remaining turbine all alone at the back of the hall. © Brett Patman
  • Bailey meter. My best educated guess is that these are Bailey Meters, still with the old spirographs. You can see where the red needle made its last recording of flow rate of a water pump and then never turned back on again in 1983. © Brett Patman
    Bailey meter. My best educated guess is that these are Bailey Meters, still with the old spirographs. You can see where the red needle made its last recording of flow rate of a water pump and then never turned back on again in 1983. © Brett Patman
  • Control room wiring. Wires from the control desk to the measurement instruments behind it. With a handy walkway going all the way around. It's like artwork. © Brett Patman
    Control room wiring. Wires from the control desk to the measurement instruments behind it. With a handy walkway going all the way around. It's like artwork. © Brett Patman
  • Hopper bins. Maybe, the waste capture of the burnt coal slag/soot or whatever. I think maybe those rows of the top middle are pipes of water that extend up several levels. I was lucky to be there to catch the morning sun come straight through the massive window behind me. © Brett Patman
    Hopper bins. Maybe, the waste capture of the burnt coal slag/soot or whatever. I think maybe those rows of the top middle are pipes of water that extend up several levels. I was lucky to be there to catch the morning sun come straight through the massive window behind me. © Brett Patman
  • This is the Boilerhouse control room. It must have been 10-15 metres of dials and switches. This room drove the boilerhouse. © Brett Patman
    This is the Boilerhouse control room. It must have been 10-15 metres of dials and switches. This room drove the boilerhouse. © Brett Patman
  • Workshop. An old engineering workshop, probably used to be filled with lathes, milling machines, drills... The real stuff from when the workers made new machinery parts when they broke instead of buying replacements. All that remains today are three ducted, bench grinders and a lonely old chainblock, hanging above a floor comprised of broken glass, rusted pieces of metal, paint flakes and chunks of rotting wood that have fallen from way above. © Brett Patman
    Workshop. An old engineering workshop, probably used to be filled with lathes, milling machines, drills... The real stuff from when the workers made new machinery parts when they broke instead of buying replacements. All that remains today are three ducted, bench grinders and a lonely old chainblock, hanging above a floor comprised of broken glass, rusted pieces of metal, paint flakes and chunks of rotting wood that have fallen from way above. © Brett Patman
  • Lead paint wall. Enternace to the work shop with peeling leaded paint wall. © Brett Patman
    Lead paint wall. Enternace to the work shop with peeling leaded paint wall. © Brett Patman
  • Reactor room tiles. Terracotta tiles in the reactor room. © Brett Patman
    Reactor room tiles. Terracotta tiles in the reactor room. © Brett Patman
  • Reactor room. This is on top of the main control room. All these cavities contained a reactor. Steve tells me that this room is always a problem with the pigeons because they set off the motion sensor alarms. He shows me all the chicken wire patch up jobs he has to keep on top of to keep them out. © Brett Patman
    Reactor room. This is on top of the main control room. All these cavities contained a reactor. Steve tells me that this room is always a problem with the pigeons because they set off the motion sensor alarms. He shows me all the chicken wire patch up jobs he has to keep on top of to keep them out. © Brett Patman
  • Turbine. There she is. I reckon this thing used to crank! Look at it! it's like some kind of twin turbo looking rocket! © Brett Patman
    Turbine. There she is. I reckon this thing used to crank! Look at it! it's like some kind of twin turbo looking rocket! © Brett Patman
  • Turbine a level down. One level below the top of the turbine. Part of the only single remaining turbine in the hall today. © Brett Patman
    Turbine a level down. One level below the top of the turbine. Part of the only single remaining turbine in the hall today. © Brett Patman
  • Turbine structures. Bottom of White Bay to the turbine level. These concrete structures supported the turbines. The associated machinery of the turbine ran to the ground. There is an old cooling sea water pipe that runs under the building and somewhere into Sydney Harbour. © Brett Patman
    Turbine structures. Bottom of White Bay to the turbine level. These concrete structures supported the turbines. The associated machinery of the turbine ran to the ground. There is an old cooling sea water pipe that runs under the building and somewhere into Sydney Harbour. © Brett Patman
  • Boiler space. This is the space a boiler would take up. Only one boiler now remains. © Brett Patman
    Boiler space. This is the space a boiler would take up. Only one boiler now remains. © Brett Patman
  • Glass bricks. Boarded up glass brick wondow ascending to the top of the boilerhouse. Fair chance there's a good view from the top. © Brett Patman
    Glass bricks. Boarded up glass brick wondow ascending to the top of the boilerhouse. Fair chance there's a good view from the top. © Brett Patman
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White Bay Power Station

By Marc Gafen | 8 December 2015
Turbine Hall. The turbine hall in all its glory. This is the big building you can see on Victoria Road. You can just see the only remaining turbine all alone at the back of the hall. © Brett Patman
Turbine Hall. The turbine hall in all its glory. This is the big building you can see on Victoria Road. You can just see the only remaining turbine all alone at the back of the hall. © Brett Patman

Brett Patman may well be the luckiest person in Sydney. No, he didn’t win the lottery, although some photographers might think that he had. Patman is one of a very select few who have been allowed access to Sydney’s White Bay Power Station, having wondered what it looks like for as long as he could remember. The site had been was in operation from 1917 until 1983, and ever since then it’s been entirely off-limits, notwithstanding the once in a Blue Moon “open days”, where visitors were able to peer into some of the buildings through Perspex windows. The site has been earmarked for a $2 billion transformation, so the historical value and importance of this series is certain to increase dramatically.

For the shoot, Patman was require to wear a full-body overall with a hood, boots and dust mask the entire time he was inside. And on a 32-degree day, he says that things got pretty sweaty. During his time on site, he was given the grand tour by one of the long-standing security guards, Steve, who has watched over the site since 1995. And suffice to say, he’s seen his fair share of would-be intruders.

Entertainment room. This is at the Victoria Road entrance to the plant. A big, long room where the hard-working power plant staff cooled down after a hard day next to the furnaces. Kind of looks like the ultimate man cave in a power station 50 years ago. It has built-in speakers in the walls, a kitchen and even still a couple of old ping pong tables and something that looks like table soccer but from 50 years ago. No Wi-Fi unfortunatley. Notice the old murals on the wall and the stage? Most of the side wall murals have been washed away from when the asbestos roof was removed a few years ago. © Brett Patman
Entertainment room. This is at the Victoria Road entrance to the plant. A big, long room where the hard-working power plant staff cooled down after a hard day next to the furnaces. Kind of looks like the ultimate man cave in a power station 50 years ago. It has built-in speakers in the walls, a kitchen and even still a couple of old ping pong tables and something that looks like table soccer but from 50 years ago. No Wi-Fi unfortunatley. Notice the old murals on the wall and the stage? Most of the side wall murals have been washed away from when the asbestos roof was removed a few years ago. © Brett Patman

Patman describes the experience as surreal. “I’ve never shot anything like this before, so to actually get the opportunity was really exciting,” Patman says. “I couldn’t believe it was happening. All the time I was walking around, in my head I kept saying, ‘ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!!’” Allowed a four-hour window, the shoot ended up taking an extra hour and half, and luckily for Patman, Steve proved to be tremendously accommodating, working through lunch to assist Patman, all the while telling him not to worry if things were taking a little longer than anticipated.

Patman thrives on shooting abandoned spaces and admits that this was by far the most exciting shoot he’s ever done. “It was actually very calm which was a welcome change from the usual feel of terror when I shoot alone in abandoned buildings,” he says. “I’ve run into squatters, copper thieves, police, other photographers, and graffiti artists. You’d be surprised how active some of these places are.”

Turbine. There she is. I reckon this thing used to crank! Look at it! it's like some kind of twin turbo looking rocket! © Brett Patman
Turbine. There she is. I reckon this thing used to crank! Look at it! it's like some kind of twin turbo looking rocket! © Brett Patman

Access

How Patman was granted such amazing access to the site remains something of a mystery, and one wonders if there wasn’t some sort of bureaucratic error that allowed him to fly under the radar. Essentially, outside access to the site is non-existent, and more so now that proposed developments are under consideration. “I still don’t know who actually approved this,” Patman says. “I still can’t believe how lucky I am. I’d like to return and shoot it again. Whoever is tasked with redeveloping it should call me in to photo document the entire site from top to bottom,” he suggests with a smile.

Gear and approach

The series was shot on a Nikon D7000 with 14-24mm f/2.8 on a tripod with a remote trigger. All the HDR shots relied on up to nine merged exposures. Patman says that once he’s merged the images for HDR, he likes to push the editing pretty hard. “I try to blur the line between photography and digital art,” he says. “I feel like editing accounts for half of what makes my shots look the way they do.”

Bailey meter. My best educated guess is that these are Bailey Meters, still with the old spirographs. You can see where the red needle made its last recording of flow rate of a water pump and then never turned back on again in 1983. © Brett Patman
Bailey meter. My best educated guess is that these are Bailey Meters, still with the old spirographs. You can see where the red needle made its last recording of flow rate of a water pump and then never turned back on again in 1983. © Brett Patman

The future


Patman picked up photography as a hobby about five years ago. For his day job, he works as an assistant hydrographer for Sydney Water. Going forward, Patman is planning to expand his portfolio on abandoned sites and has his eye on the Wakil properties – a suite of deserted buildings scattered around the Sydney CBD. “They are some of the best examples of a time gone by in Australia, preserved as it was. They are some of the next [sites] to be lost forever.” Recently, Patman documented the Callan Park Hospital for the Insane (1878 – 1914). The site was closed in 2008. But the location that he’d most like to photograph is the now uninhabited Japanese island, Hashima, 15 kilometres from Nagasaki. The island’s population peaked in 1959, with just over 5,200 people living three. But until he gets access there, Patman will have his sights set closer to home.

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