Pilgrim Uniting Church Launceston

From the 2002 OHTA Conference handbook:

This large decorated Gothic church in polychrome brick with stucco dressings built in 1866-68 was designed by the notable firm of Melbourne architects Crouch & Wilson [1] and based upon St Peter’s, Woolwich, designed by Pugin [2]. This firm was responsible for many distinguished church designs of the period including the former Brunswick Street Methodist Church, Fitzroy, Golden Square Methodist Church, Bendigo, the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Hawthorn and Durham Street, Methodist Church, Christchurch, NZ [3]. The exterior is dominated by a large tower and spire, with flanking pinnacles, placed to the right of the main façade, which incorporates a large traceried window.

The church has had three pipe organs. Recently, the property steward produced a very interesting photo of a small organ in the previous Paterson Street Wesleyan Chapel which is now the hall next door; this instrument has not been reliably documented elsewhere, and clearly predates the second organ, an 1880 instrument by George Fincham later moved to the Uniting Church, Margaret Street, Launceston, where it has since been rebuilt and enlarged [4].

The present organ in Pilgrim Church was built by the Adelaide organbuilder Josiah Eustace Dodd (1856-1952) and is the largest of his instruments to remain tonally intact. It was built in two stages. The initial agreement with Dodd was made on 4 January 1910 with completion promised by 24 December of the same year. The Great Mixture, Swell Contra Cornopean (12 pipes), Choir Organ and the Pedal Subbass and Trombone (12 pipes) were initially prepared for, but Dodd quoted on 19 November 1910 for the completion of the instrument. The Choir Diapason was not initially intended, but the Dodd books record that “The Boss has since decided to PREPARE the MELODIC DIAPASON 8ft” [5]. The cost was £1,687/11/- [6]. The instrument, completed in 1912, was built with Dodd’s latest form of tubular-pneumatic action, and incorporated a console imported from Germany, with elaborate registration accessories, including compound automatic pistons and sforzato pedal movements [7]. In 1954 George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd, of Melbourne, in association with Keith Davis, of Launceston, converted the action to electro-pneumatic and supplied a new stop-key console. The original tonal scheme remains unaltered apart from the removal of the Swell Vox Humana and preparation for a Mixture. The instrument is among the finest examples of indigenous organbuilding of the period to survive and comparable with the builder’s contemporaneous instrument at St Carthage’s Catholic Cathedral, Lismore, NSW, where the tonal scheme has been subsequently altered and original material removed.

[4] Information supplied by Peter Schultz 22 April 2002 to John Maidment; Matthews, op. cit., p. 200

[8] Specification noted 1967 John Maidment with additional data supplied by Peter Schultz 22 April 2002