Newcastle Museum

Workshop Way, Honeysuckle, Newcastle

(Former Honeysuckle Goodsyards, Wharf Road, Newcastle)

Museum web site http://www.newcastle.nsw.gov.au/about_newcastle/newcastle_museum

B. unknown, Inst. 1924 St Augustine's Anglican Church
from residence of John St Vincent Welch, Esq., Wollstonecraft, Sydney; cost £900.
Overhauled & altered 1964 S.I. Sakacs, Melbourne.
Inst. 2011 Newcastle Museum Peter DG Jewkes
3m., 16 sp. st., 8c., tr. Gt: 8.8.8.4. Sw: 16.8.8.4.2.8. Ch: 8.8.4.8. Ped: 16.8.

The organ in its previous home  © PdL 2006

From the Sydney Organ Journal, Spring 2011, Peter Jewkes writes:

Our firm has just installed the fine anonymous small three manual organ formerly at St Augustine's, Merewether, originally in the private residence "Standish" at Greenwich in the new Newcastle Museum.  The museum is located in the vast former railway workshops near the harbour, now converted to re-house a spectacular collection of artefacts of artistic and scientific interest from the region's past.  With its distinctive oak case and tin façade pipes, the organ now makes an imposing sight in a dedicated hall between two of the galleries, shared only by a steam locomotive and a large Italian mural depicting the city's industrial heart in years gone by.  The hall has pleasant acoustics and generous room has been provided for seating for concerts and functions.  While no major work has been undertaken on the organ, the rather unstable 1960s wind regulator has been replaced with a traditional double-rise bellows, made to the same dimensions as the original. A new silent blower has also been provided, and of course, all pipework has been cleaned and regulated during installation.  Most noticeably, the front pipes (one of only a handful of nineteenth century tin façades in Australia) have been re-burnished in Melbourne by Tim Gilley, restoring the instrument's original striking appearance.

Much has been attempted by historians over the years to establish the provenance of this unusual instrument, to no avail, and no further evidence was uncovered during its latest move.  Clearly it is of high quality English construction, yet almost all of the pipe work is by William Davidson of Sydney - possibly as a result of his friendship with John St Vincent Welsh, the organ's original owner, also a Warden of St Thomas', North Sydney where Davidson constructed the original organ.  Hopefully further research will one day reveal the story behind this unusual instrument, now in its third and most unusual home.

Here is the history of its specification from when it was in Greenwich and as it was found at Merewether.