The Chapel at St Peter's Lutheran College, Indooroopilly
[Photograph by David Vann (August 2012)]
The Chapel at St Peter's Lutheran College, Indooroopilly
[Photograph by David Vann (August 2012)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012, 2019 (last updated March 2019)
St Peter's Lutheran College was established at Indooroopilly in 1945, and is now the largest Lutheran school in Australia.1 The chapel was built in 1966 to the design of the noted avant-garde Brisbane architect, Karl Langer (1903-69). It was opened and dedicated in 1967. Viennese-born, Langer had settled in Australia immediately prior to the Second World War, and became actively engaged in many public and professional bodies. He lectured for a time in town planning at the University of Queensland. His other Queensland buildings include St John's Lutheran Church, Bundaberg, and the Mount Thompson Crematorium in Brisbane. The chapel at St Peter's Lutheran College, Indooroopilly, is said to have been his favourite building.2
The interior of the Chapel at St Peter's Lutheran College, Indooroopilly
[Photograph by David Vann (August 2012)]
The 1980 Whitehouse Bros organ, completed in 1983 by H.W. Jarrott
[Photograph by David Vann (August 2012)]
The G. Dohler Memorial Pipe Organ was built in 1976-80 by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane, shortly before the firm ceased operation in 1982, and was completed by H.W. Jarrott in 1983.3 The specification reflected endeavours at this time by the Whitehouse firm to update their tonal design, influenced to some extent by perceived progressive features in the rebuilt organ at St John's Cathedral in Brisbane in the early 1970s. The specification at Indooroopilly included stop nomenclature not found elsewhere in the work of Whitehouse Bros, but the design was essentially conservative. A three-manual console was provided, with a view to adding a Choir division. There were four stopped holes for Choir draw-stops at the console.
Console of the 1980 Whitehouse Bros organ
[Photograph by David Vann (August 2012)]
The pipework on the Great originally included the Swell (& Pedal) Bourdon 16ft stop from the 1903 Charles Richardson organ at the Ann Street Presbyterian Church, which had been partially stripped down around this time. With the return of this stop to Ann Street in 2003-04, negotiated by W.J. Simon Pierce, it was replaced at Indooroopilly with the original Swell Lieblich Bourdon 16ft stop removed in the early 1980s from the 1889 George Benson organ at the Uniting Church, Albert Street, Brisbane.4
Repairs to the bellows and Swell upperboards were undertaken in 1997 by W.J. Simon Pierce.5
In 2017, the College purchased the Swell Division from the redundant Hill, Norman and Beard (1969) instrument at Christ Church Anglican Church, St Lucia. Most of this division was installed at Indooroopilly in 2018 by Pierce Pipe Organs. At the same time, the organ case was extended using Tasmanian Oak slats to match the existing case. The latter work was undertaken by a team from the St Peter's Lutheran congregation, who use the building every Sunday.6
| GREAT Bourdon Open Diapason Koppel Flute Viola da Gamba Principal Spillflute Salicet Twelfth Fifteenth SWELL Geigend Diapason Chimney Flute Gemshorn Bach Flute Piccolo Quint Mixture Trompette CHOIR Rohr Gedact Viola Gemshorn Lieblich Flute Nazard Doublette Trumpet PEDAL Sub Bass Echo Bass Rohr Pommer Cello Principal Trompette |
16 8 8 8 4 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 8 4 4 2 1-1/3 III 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 16 16 8 8 4 8 |
A B C B C D E F E F A B D |
[originally Richardson 1903; now Benson 1889] [originally prepared at the console only; pipework and soundboard added 2018] [originally Richardson 1903; now Benson 1889] |
COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal Swell to Great Swell to Great Super Choir to Great Swell to Choir Swell Sub Swell Super Choir Super Swell tremulant Choir tremulant |
[2018] [2018] [2018] [2018] |
Direct electric action
Detached draw-stop console
Pedalboard: radiating & concave
Balanced swell pedal
Compass: 61/30
3 thumb pistons to Great Organ
3 thumb pistons to Swell Organ
3 thumb pistons to Choir Organ
1 reversible Great to Pedal toe piston (previously Full Organ) [2018].7
Console details of the Whitehouse Bros organ
[Photographs by David Vann (August 2012)]
Additional stops of the Choir Organ
[Photograph by Gregory Mayer (March 2019)]
Extended organ casework
[Photograph by Gregory Mayer (March 2019)]
_______________________________________________________________________
1 St Peters Lutheran College website, http://www.stpeters.qld.edu.au - accessed 8 May 2012.
2 Ian Sinnamon, 'Langer, Karl (1903 - 1969),' Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2000), pp. 55-56.
3 Dates supplied by David Vann, c.1976-83.
4 Personal communication to G. Cox from Simon Pierce, January 2004.
5 The Organ Voice, vol. 23, no. 4 (December 1997), p. 28.
6 Details supplied by Gregory Mayer, March 2019.
7 Original specification supplied by Graeme Morton, June 2003; additional details (Choir Organ) supplied by Gregory Mayer, March 2019.