St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Murwillumbah
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2011)]
St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Murwillumbah
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2011)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment and Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2011 (last updated November 2011)
This organ in this church was built by William Stone of Melbourne in 1884 for St Columb's Anglican Church, Hawthorn, Victoria, at a cost of £250. It was opened on 14 September 1884. When W.L. Roberts supplied a new organ for St Columb's in 1923, the William Stone organ was sold to the present church and installed there by Roberts.1
William Stone was born in England around 1830, and began in business in Tasmania before moving to Victoria in 1872. He opened his business in St Kilda around 1875 and by 1882 was employing his two sons. He ceased organ-building at the turn of the century.2
Interior of St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Murwillumbah
[Photographer and date unknown]
Regular tuning at Murwillumbah is recorded in the ledgers of Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane, between 1936 and 1953.3 According to a summary list of the work of the Whitehouse firm, the organ was then 'rebuilt and modernised' by Whitehouse Bros in April 1955 at a cost of £2,437.11.0.4
In details later supplied by Kevin Whitehouse from the firm's records, it appears that the original organ had been destroyed by flood, although the pipes were saved. The manual compass was increased from 54 to 61 notes at this time, one new stop was added, and the organ was rebuilt with tubular-pneumatic action. The resulting specification was as follows:
| GREAT Open Diapason Dulciana Stopped Diapason Flute SWELL Clarabella Gamba Principal Oboe [Ten.C] PEDAL Bourdon |
8 8 8 4 8 8 4 8 16 |
[1955] [originally on Swell] [gvd bass] [originally on Great] |
Tubular-pneumatic action [originally mechanical action]
3 couplers (1884); 5 couplers (1955)
2 pistons to each manual.5
In order to avoid further flood damage, the organ was moved to a new loft (as shown above) at an unknown date, retaining the pneumatic action. The action was electrified around 1986 by H.W. Jarrott of Brisbane. A new detached console was designed by Jarrott at this time, the shell being built by a church member, but fitted out by Jarrott. Additional couplers, and probably a Pedal Bass Flute 8ft by extension, appear to have been provided.6
The new detached organ console of c.1986
[Photographer and date unknown]
Some re-voicing and re-scaling was undertaken around 2005 by W.J. Simon Pierce of Brisbane.7
An accurate current specification is not yet available.
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1 Personal communication to Enid Matthews from W.L. Roberts, 26 September 1965, cited in E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp. 137, 187.
2 Matthews, op. cit., pp. 26, 85.
3 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-40), p. 631; Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1940-54), p. 244-45.
4 Whitehouse Bros List 2 (compiled c.1960), as described in OHTA News, vol. 35, no. 4 (October 2011), pp. 27-29.
5 Personal communication to J. Maidment (via David Vann) from Kevin Whitehouse, October 1980, apparently based on correspondence dating from 1954.
6 Personal communications to G. Cox from H.W. Jarrott and Simon Pierce, November 2011.
7 Personal communication to G. Cox from Simon Pierce, November 2011.