Chermside-Kedron Community (Uniting) Church

cnr Gympie and Rode Roads, Chermside

Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane, 1950, for the Methodist Church, Chermside
Additions 1951, 1966 Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane
2 manuals, 8 speaking stops, tubular-pneumatic action
Rebuilt, enlarged and installed in this location 2002 W.J. Simon Pierce, Brisbane,
incorporating three ranks and soundboards from the
1961 Whitehouse organ at Kedron Uniting Church
2 manuals, 14 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action

The Chermside-Kedron Community (Uniting) Church
[Photograph by Geoffrey Cox (June 2012)]

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012, 2013 (last updated October 2013)

The Chermside-Kedron Community Church (Uniting Church in Australia) results from an amalgamation of the former Methodist Church, Chermside, and the former Uniting (previously Presbyterian) Church, Kedron. The new church centre was opened on the present site in September 2001.

The first Methodist Church in Chermside was a timber church erected in 1877. It was moved in 1926 to the corner of Hamilton and Gympie roads, and replaced there by a new brick structure that was opened on 30 September 1950.¹

The new Methodist Church, Chermside, in 1950
[Photograph: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

The pipe organ in the Methodist Church, Chermside, was completed by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane in time for the opening of the new church in September 1950, the specification having been drawn up in July 1948. The Salicional 8ft pipes were not installed until August 1951, bringing the total cost of the organ to £1727.0.0.² The instrument was installed as a memorial to John Allan Harris, who had been killed in action in February 1942,³ and the dedicatory opening program was given by Mr Archie Day, the City Organist, on Sunday 8 October 1950.⁴

The 1950 Whitehouse Bros organ at the Methodist Church, Chermside,
with Darcy Gough seated at the console
[Photographs (February 1999) supplied by David Vann (October 2013)]

This original specification of the Chermside organ was identical with those of the Whitehouse organs at the Methodist Church, Morningside (1947) and the Methodist Church, Lutwyche (1949), and just one stop smaller than that at the Toowoomba Preparatory School (1949). The Salicional 8ft was originally on the Swell, and duplexed to the Great. It was transferred to the existing Great soundboard (on a spare bar) in 1966 when the Oboe 8ft was added to the Swell,⁵ bringing the total specification to eight stops:

Swell tremulant
Pneumatic action
Detached stop-tab console
Balanced swell pedal
Pedalboard: radiating & concave.⁶

Repairs were carried out at Chermside following water damage in March 1955.⁷ The organ was placed in storage in July 2001 in preparation for rebuilding, enlargement and installation in the new Community Church centre.

Following the closure of the Kedron Uniting (formerly Presbyterian) Church in 2000, a proposal was developed to amalgamate the two Whitehouse organs built for the Chermside and Kedron churches respectively, for installation in the new Community Church centre.⁸ Although the Kedron organ had been built in 1961, a decade after the Chermside instrument, with pneumatic action at Chermside and electric action at Kedron, the standardisation of Whitehouse designs over a long period (including the soundboard dimensions) enabled the two to be combined easily.

The organ in the Chermside-Kedron Community Church
[Photographs by David Vann (May 2012)]

The work of rebuilding and amalgamating the two instruments was undertaken by W.J. Simon Pierce of Brisbane. It commenced in January 2002 and was completed in May that year. The cone-pallet soundboards were fully refurbished, and joined successfully to work through a common electric action. A new blower and wind system were supplied at this time. The combined instrument retained the 1961 console from Kedron along with the original Chermside façade, which was split to accommodate a projection screen.

The 1961 console from the Presbyterian Church, Kedron,
now serving the organ in the Chermside-Kedron Community Church
[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]




The 1961 nameplate from the Presbyterian Church, Kedron,
alongside the 2002 nameplate at the Chermside-Kedron Community Church
[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]

Three of the four ranks that comprised the Kedron specification were retained, while the Kedron Dulciana 8ft was discarded. The bottom register of the original Salicional 8ft from Chermside was used to complete the Pedal 'Cello 16ft from Kedron, thus creating greater independence between the Swell and Pedal than had existed at Kedron. The Great Open Diapason 8ft and Swell Gedact 8ft from Kedron were both transposed up an octave, becoming the new Great Principal 4ft and Swell Flute 4ft respectively. A new Clarabella 8ft and Fifteenth 2ft were supplied for the Great, the former being duplexed to provide an Octave Flute 8ft stop on the Pedal.

An unusual feature is to be found in the Pedal to Great coupler, which couples the Pedal to the bottom note only of any chord played on the Great. This devise is similar to melodic couplers found on Positive Organ Company organs around 1900,⁹ and was developed in this instance by Lynton Gough for the benefit of 'reluctant organists.'

The resulting combined specification is as follows:

Swell tremulant
Electro-pneumatic action
Detached stop-key console
Balanced swell pedal
Pedalboard: radiating & concave.¹⁰

Stop-keys on the console at the Chermside-Kedron Community Church
[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]

__________________________________________________________________

1 Vision: a century of development 1873-1973: Chermside Methodist Church centenary souvenir (1973).

2 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1940-1954), p. 347.

3 The Organ Voice, vol. 28, no. 3 (September 2002), p. 8.

4 Collected Organ Specifications of Bernie Brohan (c.1952).

5 Date & details from Whitehouse Bros records, supplied by Kevin M.Whitehouse, January 1973.

6 Specification noted by G. Cox, January 1973; Collected Organ Specifications of Bernie Brohan (c.1952).

7 Whitehouse Bros List.

8 The Organ Voice, vol. 27, no. 3 (September 2001), p. 28; The Sydney Organ Journal, vol. 33, no. 3 (Winter 2002), p. 23.

9 See, for example, the Gallery organ at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Fortitude Valley.

10 Simon Pierce, Winter Newsletter (May 2002); Additional information derived from personal communications to G. Cox from Simon Pierce, August 2001 & June 2002. Stop-keys photographed by David Vann, May 2012.