
It was once a smoke-spewing industrial behemoth overlooking Sydney Harbour, providing power for the city's rail and tram network.

But the now white elephant White Bay Power Station is set to be brought back to life thanks to a $1 billion makeover, with rumours Google has its sights set on it for its Australian headquarters.

Built in 1912, the 38,000 square metre site has had a colourful past, and a tour through the ruins is like stepping back more than 100 years - if you can ignore the crumbling walls, eerie industrial equipment and 100 tonnes of bird droppings which covered the floor of the old dance hall.

Asbestos-riddled and home to more pigeons than could be counted before Daily Mail Australia was taken through the cavernous building - not to mention the local bat colony - the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority spent nearly $5 million in 2014 to preserve what was still standing.

Among the items still standing idle inside are the old lockers used by employees and storage rooms which dot the building, in this throwback to a bygone era.

The bathrooms, fitted even before the advent of the First World War, are lined with graffiti now and the paint is peeling off the old ceramic tiles, which have been preserved in almost pristine condition hidden underneath.

'These buildings are so strong, there are no cracks, it will be great when it happens,' archaeologist Dr Wayne Johnson said.

'It is considered a very significant building and any work has to be done with a strict conservation plan but you can see there is a lot of room for everything else.

'The vastness of it, the great cavernous spaces, the machinery, there's nothing quite like this.

'All you see here represents the whole thing from 1912 until it closed in the 1980s.

'There's evidence of the whole history of its function and enough machinery has been kept so you understand what a power station does.'

In the 1950s and 1960s, with the White Bay Power Station at its pomp, local swimmers happened across a novel and secret way to keep up their training in the cold winter months.

The water, which would be used to bring the temperatures of the boilers down, would then run off through the underground canal and out into the nearby bay - where John Devitt, a 1960 Olympic gold medallist, was one of the first to recognise its benefits.

Dr Johnson claims that 'it is like a piece of industrial archaeology, it reads like a book, you look and you know what it did'.

Steve Tadic is the security guard and he keeps his precinct under a tight watch. He's spent more than 20 years in charge.

'Eh you, come here and sign the book' he calls out, with absolute authority, to two workmen who arrive and forget to report in.

'It was very dangerous before they did the work, the homeless people were here,' he said.

'It's a vast cavernous building and you just don't see space like this near a major city with so much artefact like machinery still intact,' said archaeologist Dr Wayne Johnson

The view from above. A watch-room, perched high above the work floor is badly amaged and decaying after decades of non-use

Asbestos sheets, broken glass and timber litters the no-go zone at the last remaining power station of its type in New South Wales

A staple of most dining halls in Australia in the past, the pie oven, this one from 1950, is found in the power station's dining room

Peering into the past and the secret of Olympic success. The canal flushing out the water used to cool the systems down would flow into the bay immediately outside the factory, which became a training pool for gold medal winners like John Devitt in the 1960s

Room with a million dollar view. Authorities have boarded up the windows of the disused power station but any extensive redevelopment will reveal a spectacular panorama of Sydney's famous harbour

The train lines into the old power station are still in place where locomotives laden with coal would unload into an underground storage before it was pushed up the conveyor belt (centre) and then fall down into the boiler rooms, pictured at right

The White Bay Power Station supplied most of the energy needed for Sydney's rail and tram system plus pumping electricity back into the main grid when demand was at high levels during winter and holiday periods

The two smoke stacks, which are 'like two beacons' pointing the way into the city of Sydney. It was once a smoke-spewing industrial behemoth overlooking Sydney Harbour, providing power for the city's rail and tram network.

Sirocco machinery pictured inside the abandoned power station. The huge fans were developed for use in power stations in the late 1800s

The old boiler houses became a haven for "cave clan" urban explorers and graffiti gangs for more than 30 years before the restoration was undertaken and security beefed up

Much of the heavy oak desks and marble work has stood the test of time, including this clerical and reception space inside the original building at the White Bay Power Station

The main foreman's watch-room up above the factory floor in now in a sorry state, with vandals having taken to it as they had to many parts of the site

The White Bay Power Station was built from 1912, finally came on line in 1917 and operated until it was decommissioned in late 1983. It was the longest serving power station of its type. The original control room remains in place

Old bathrooms have been boarded up. The bathrooms are lined with graffiti now and the paint is peeling off the old ceramic tiles

The original entry point of the Power Station

The walls are showing the signs of wear and tear, with the original paintwork falling off

The workers' wash rooms, some items fitted before World War I, have been unused for decades

Asbestos riddled and home to more pigeons that could be counted and the local bat colony, the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority spent nearly $5 million a year ago, to preserve what was left. But holes are still visible throughout the floor

The dance hall has been cleaned up, if not fully restored. Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority officials arrived to find 100 tonnes of bird droppings filling the room

The old stage remains intact inside the dance hall which hasn't seen any entertainment since the 1950s

The band stand in full flow during a Christmas party for the station's workers in the 1950s

Employees enjoying a performance in the dance hall at the White Bay Power Station in Sydney, just three kilometres from the CBD

The communications board too has somehow stood the test of time, a kind of early 20th century ABN

The walk down to the station engineer's office with signage making it clear the process required after hours

'There's evidence of whole history of its function and enough machinery has been kept so you understand what a power station does. It is like a piece of industrial archaeology, it reads like a book, you look and you know what it did' said Dr Johnson

And how it looked way back when. The factory floor with boilers in full flow and workers keeping a close eye

One upon a time this equipment was providing most of the power for Sydney's train and tram system

The lights of days gone by litter the floors of the remaining boiler rooms

The roof fixed on the main building and dance hall tidied, there is still no access granted to the public, unless you've been taken through the security check and donned the white contamination suit, for concern over lingering levels of asbestos inside.

Several sections are still boarded up to keep away the unwanted intruders, still, the most spectacular view of the harbour panorama that once was, is visible through the slats.

The communications board too has somehow stood the test of time, set on the wall almost as a kind of early 20th century ABN.

Sadly the definitive foreman towers, perched metres above the work-floor, are not so sound, clearly falling apart .. vandalised and struggling with the sands of time.

Elsewhere, shattered glass and broken bits of timber need to be negotiated, as do collapsing floors for fear of plunging many metres. A danger zone, which even the city's so-called "cave-dwellers" have declared a no-go zone because of its decaying state.

'In 1912, when it was built, there was a certain capacity, and then in the 1920s they had to enlarge it and then the next boiler hall was brought in during the 50s.'

Not only was it source of power for the red rattlers, it would also supplement Sydney's electricity needs during periods of high demand, particularly over Christmas and New Year, in the decades past.

Those were the halcyon days, before the power station was decommissioned on Christmas Day in 1983.