St Carthage's Catholic Cathedral
Lismore
1912 J.E. Dodd, Adelaide, reb and enl. Brown and Arkley 1988 (3/47 electro-pneumatic)
Photo: Trevor Bunning (Sept. 2007)
From 1998 OHTA Conference booklet:
The Cathedral Church of St Carthage was designed Wardell and Denning, 1905-07. By this time Wardell had already made his name, being responsible for designing two major city cathedrals, namely St Mary's, Sydney and St Patrick's, Melbourne.
St Carthage's is a beautiful red brick structure of large proportion designed in cruciform plan, possessing a fine tower with a peal of bells, and a gallery housing the organ in the north-eastern transept. Between 1984 and 1988 the building was restored at a cost of close to $400,000. [1]
The 1912 J.E. Dodd organ, with its splendid twin cases, is the second instrument to have stood in St Carthage's, the first being the 1886 organ now to be found on the western gallery of St Augustine's Catholic Church in the Sydney suburb of Balmain. Of lnterest, this Hill organ, originally built for the hall of the Young Men's Christian Association, Sydney was installed in St Carthage's in mid-1907 and remained there until 1912. [2]
In 1964 H.W Jarrott electrified the Great and Choir divisions and part of the Pedal of the Dodd organ. The restoration of the cathedral, mentioned above, included the rebuilding by Brown and Arkley of the J.E. Dodd organ in 1988. This work included the provision of a new drawstop console and some rather controversial tonal changes, including the removal of several original ranks of the Choir division, and the addition of some ranks with extensions. The organ's original specification was:[3]
| GREAT Double Open Diapason Diapason Phonon Open Diapason Claribel Salicional Principal Harmonic Flute Superoctave Tromba SWELL Lieblich Bourdon Open Diapason Geigen Diapason Hohl Flute Aeoline Viol Celeste 2 rks Geigen Principal Flauto Traverso Mixture Contra Cornopean Cornopean Oboe Clarion tremulant CHOIR Lieblich Gedact Melodic Diapason Viole d'Orchestre Dolce Flute d'Orchestre Clarinet Vox Humana PEDAL Acoustic Bass Major Bass Open Diapason Sub Bass Echo Bourdon Principal Bass Flute Dolce Contra Fagotta Trumpet COUPLERS Swell Sub Octave Swell Super Octave Choir Sub Octave Choir Super Octave Choir to Great Swell to Great Swell to Choir Choir to Pedal Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Melody Coupler |
16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 8 16 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 III 16 8 8 4 8 8 8 8 4 8 8 32 16 16 16 16 8 8 8 16 8 |
action: tubular-pneumatic
The present 1988 specification of the rebuilt organ is:[4]
| GREAT Double Open Diapason Open Diapason (no 1) large Open Diapason (no 2) small Claribel Salicional Principal Harmonic Flute Fifteenth Mixture Tromba Trompette B Clarion SWELL Lieblich Bourdon Open Diapason Geigen Diapason Hohl Flute Aeoline Viol Celeste 2 rks Geigen Principal Flauto Traverso Mixture Contra Cornopean Cornopean Oboe Clarion tremulant CHOIR Lieblich Gedact Principal Wald Flute Nazard Piccolo Mixture Clarinet Tromba Trompette Clarion tremulant PEDAL Acoustic Bass Major Bass Open Diapason Sub Bass Echo Bourdon Principal Bass Flute Dolce Fifteenth Flute Posaune Trompette Clarion COUPLERS Swell Sub Octave Swell Super Octave Choir Sub Octave Choir Super Octave Choir to Great Swell to Great Swell to Choir Choir to Pedal Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 8 8 4 16 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 III 16 8 8 4 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 III 8 8 8 4 32 16 16 16 16 8 8 8 4 44 16 8 4 |
(prepared for) A B B A B B C D C D B B B |
ACCESSORIES
10 general thumb pistons
6 thumb pistons each to Sw, Gt and Ch
6 toe pistons to Ped
1 reversible toe piston Gt to Ped
1 reversible toe piston Sw to Ped
1 feversible thumb piston Gt to Ped
1 reversible thumb piston Sw to Ped
1 reversible thumb piston Sw to Gt
1 neutral set piston
1 setter piston
1 general cancel
1 switch to select any one of 4 memories
balanced pedal to Swell
balanced pedal to Choir
compass: 61/30
action: electro-pneumatic
[1] Organ Society of Queensland Inc. Newsletter, June 1988, p.36.
[2] Rushworth, G.D. Historic Organs... p.274-276.
[3] Naylor, B., 'J.E. Dodd - A Romantic Organbuilder', OHTA News, April 1981, Vol. 5, no. 2, p.12.
[4] Organ Society of Queensland lnc. Newsletter, June 1988, p.43.
