St Luke's Lutheran Church
Bunbury Street, Cavendish
B. unknown [Australian, mid-19th century?]
Earliest known loc Methodist Church, Arnold Street, Bendigo.
Inst 1957 Douglas Price and others Methodist Church, Ararat;
inst. 1983 Uniting Church, West Ararat;
inst 1984 residence of Ivan Puls, Miga Lake; inst present loc 2001.
1m, 6spst, pedal pulldowns, tr. Man: 8.8 divided.8.8.4.2. Cedar case in Gothic style.
St Luke’s Church, constructed in bluestone in 1857, is a former Presbyterian Church that was bought by the local Lutheran congregation following the formation of the Uniting Church. The building consists of a three-bay nave. There is an entrance porch clad in pressed metal (stamped to resemble stone) and decorative barge boards in the main and porch gables.
The organ is among the two or three earliest of indigenous manufacture in Victoria and comparable with the James Moyle organ at St Linus’ Anglican Church, Merlynston that dates from the 1850s. It predates anything made by George Fincham from the early 1860s onwards. It is possible that it may have been made in New South Wales by John Kinloch, although this is yet to be proven. The cedar casework in the Gothic style is outstanding and includes two narrow flats placed under gables and a wide central flat. The flats are all filled with gilt dummy ‘flatback’ pipes. The top of the casework is boldly crenellated and the case panels are chamfered.
The instrument appears to date from the 1850s, this being suggested by the style of casework, keycheeks and script drawstop engraving – one of the knobs has the antiquarian spelling Stop Bafs: the capitals are engraved in red. The sharp keys have rounded ends: the keyboard is likely to have been imported, maybe from Edward Violette, London who made the keyboard for the Samuel Joscelyne organ now at St James-the-Great Anglican Church, East St Kilda.
The origins of the organ are unknown. It is reputed, according to Cyril Cowling, to have been placed in the Harkness family home in Bendigo: Robert Harkness was a composer of hymns. It was then placed in the Methodist Church, Arnold Street, Bendigo from where it was removed in 1957 by Douglas Price and installed at the Methodist Church, Ararat. In 1983 it was moved to the Uniting Church, West Ararat and in 1984 to the residence of Ivan Puls, Miga Lake. It was installed at Cavendish in 2001 as a gift from Ian Puls in memory of his brother. It is located at the (ecclesiastical) north-west corner of the building at the rear.
The metal pipework is almost certainly imported, with florid scribed note markings and made from black metal: it has been fitted with tuning slides. The Keraulophon is slotted. The wooden pipework is made from pine with cedar caps. This was quite an up-to-date instrument for the period with its Clarabella, Keraulophon and two composition pedals.
MANUAL |
[8] [8] [8] [8] [8] [4] [2] |
bottom octave open wood at rear CC-BB TC TC TC |
Manual compass: CC-G 56 notes
Pedal pulldowns: 30 notes CC-F (this is unlikely to be the original pedals which would have been of shorter compass: the present pedal board is slightly cut into the console sides)
2 composition pedals
Lever swell pedal (the swell box, shutters and mechanism are in storage but have not currently been installed)
Mechanical key and stop action
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Photos: JRM (April 2009)
Information provided to John Maidment by Douglas Price 6 February 1970
National Trust of Australia (Victoria) website
Notes by John Maidment: visits to organ 2004, 2009
John Maidment
21 April 2009