Goulburn, R.C. Cathedral, organ by Hill & Son, 1890

1. THE BUILDING

Address	38 Verner Street, Goulburn, N.S.W.
Style	Gothic
General contents	Three rows of pews in the nave area. Floor coverings are mainly of linoleum and stone with a minimal use of carpet in the chancel area.
Ventilation	Only the small windows in the uppermost section of the nave open to the outside.
Acoustics	The chord shown in Fig. 1 was played, held for five seconds, and then released. The time taken for the sound to become inaudible after the release of the chord was recorded, as heard from the console, and was found to be 2.5-3 seconds with both of thefollowing registrations:
	1. Gt 8,4,3,2,M + Ped 16,16,8,16 + Gt-Ped 2. Gt, as above + Posaune 8, Sw-Gt, Sw-Gt octave + Sw 16,8,4,2,M,Horn 8 + Ped as above + Sw-Ped
Position of the organ	The organ is sited in a gallery in the north transept which is also its original position.
Climatic conditions and heating	There is no installation for the continual heating of the church in the winter months, and the organ does not appear to have suffered any ill effects which could be attributed to heating or climate.

2. THE ORGAN

General condition

Although the organ is playable, there are many signs of deterioration which have developed in the course of time. Major repairs on the organ are being planned in consequence of this. The main areas affected are as follow :

1. The under-covering of the Swell note channels is very badly torn making this section of the organ somewhat unreliable. Plate 3
2. Several stop labels are missing. (The stop label for the Great Principal 4 ft.was found under the pedalboard during the course of the investigation, and was replaced).
3. The bellows leak very badly and require releathering. The high pressure bellows does not rise at all which may partly explain the next fault.
4. The Barker pneumatics are weak. Although these function satisfactorily when only operating the pallets for the Great soundboard, they become unreliable when the Swell to Great and Swell to Great Octave couplers-are also drawn. The Barker machines are operated from their own high pressure bellows (mentioned in 3 above). During the second investigation period, it was noticed that the wind trunking from this bellows to the Barker machines was leaking very badly. In order to measure the action pressure, these leaks were temporarily pasted over, which resulted in a marked improvement in the operation of the Barker lever.
5. Many of the pedal pipes have been rat-eaten. An example of this is the co pipe of the Pedal Open Diapason 16 ft., which has had its cut-up considerably raised by the eating habits of hungry rats. Most surprisingly, this particular pipe still functions satisfactorily.
6. Dust and dirt are prevalent in the instrument. The reeds of the Pedal and Choir organs have suffered badly from this. Many notes of the Pedal Trombone 16 ft.are not functioning at the moment.

3. HISTORY

4. DEGREE OF ORIGINALITY

Basically, the organ has experienced no major alteration since its original construction. The "rebuild" by Holroyd mentioned under the History of the organ only involved the hooding of the Great Posaune 8 ft. ² (This was done very badly, and the poorly soldered joints are sealed with pitch!) Originally, this plate only contained "John B. Holroyd, Sydney." The words "Rebuilt by" and the date "1910" were added later. Since the original Hill name plate is now missing, it is possible that it was removed by Holroyd, who then placed his own nameplate on the organ, in the hope that posterity would believe that he was the original builder of the organ. ³

On a point by point basis, the degree of originality appears as follows:

1. Pipework

Great Posaune B ft. hooded by Holroyd in 1910. Otherwise the pipework is completely original.