Hervey Bay Presbyterian Church
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]
Hervey Bay Presbyterian Church
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2011 (last updated March 2011)
The City of Hervey Bay is located some 34 km north-east of Maryborough on the bay of the same name, which is protected from the ocean by Fraser Island. The area is a major tourist destination, and the bay is noted for its fishing. Originally one of several villages along the foreshore, Scarness is now a suburb of Hervey Bay.
As far back as 1922, Presbyterian worship was conducted in the Scarness Picture Theatre by ministers traveling from St Stephen's Church, Maryborough. A church hall was built in Freshwater Street, near the present church, in 1947, and the church that forms the centre of the present complex was opened in 1960, known for a time as St David's Presbyterian Church. The church was expanded in November 2008 with the addition of a new hall and modern foyer, with the organ still occupying its original position.1
The Hervey Bay Presbyterian Church before 2008
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]
The 1960 church within the extended church complex of 2008
[Photographs by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]
The organ was built in 1959 by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane, and installed in the new church in 1960.2 It was dedicated to the memory of Ethel Cunningham, a member of the congregation who had died in May 1957.3 All of the pipes apart from the front pipes are enclosed in the swell box, and there are no pedals.
[Photographs by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]
This was one of the smallest instruments built by Whitehouse Bros. The action is direct-electric, rarely used by the firm, and possibly here for the first time. The conservative tonal design reflects the standard practice of the firm over a period of many decades. The configuration of the show-pipes also represents a standard design by the firm, and is remarkably similar to that of the organ for the Fortitude Valley Presbyterian Church, built some 37 years earlier.4
| MANUAL Open Diapason Salicional Flute COUPLER Octave Coupler |
8 8 4 |
Tremulant
No pedals
Attached stop-key console
Compass: 61 notes
Direct electric action
Balanced swell pedal.5
_____________________________________________________________________
1 Historical details supplied by Rev John T. Roth (Minister and Moderator, Hervey Bay Presbyterian Church), March 2011.
2 Dates from Whitehouse Bros records, 1974, and builder's nameplate on the console.
3 Plaque on the console, noted by Trevor Bunning, November 2010.
4 This instrument is now located at the Uniting Church, Beaudesert.
5 Specification from Whitehouse Bros records, 1974, and noted by Trevor Bunning,
November 2010.
[Photographs by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]