St Peter's Anglican Church

Nerang Street, Southport

Builder unknown
Probably installed 1866 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Ipswich
Installed c.1921 in St Alban's Chapel, The Southport School, Southport, 1924
in former St Peter's Church, Southport, and 1959 in present church.
2 manuals, 7 speaking stops, mechanical action
Rebuilt with electro-pneumatic action 1976 Walter Emerson, Toowoomba
Additions 1982 Walter Emerson, Toowoomba, and 1990 Australian Pipe Organs, Melbourne.
Re-voiced with addition 2010 W.J. Simon Pierce, Brisbane
2 manuals, 10 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action

St Peter's Anglican Church, Southport
[Photograph by Howard Baker (c.1989)]

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2011 (last updated September 2011)

The present St Peter's Anglican Church, Southport, was built in 1959, and dedicated on 26 June 1960. It replaced an earlier wooden church facing High Street, which had been opened in June 1887.¹ The designs for the 1887 church had been provided by the short-lived architectural partnership, Banks and Carandini.²

The earlier St Peter's Church of England, Southport
[Photograph: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

The organ now in St Peter's Church was formerly in the chapel of The Southport School, where it was installed at the time the chapel was built around the end of 1921 or the beginning of 1922.³ Beyond this its origins are obscure, although it was rumoured at one time to have come from St Mary's Catholic Church, Ipswich. If it came from Ipswich, however, it is most likely that it was from St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Ipswich, where the original organ installed in 1866 was replaced in 1916.

The organ was moved at the end of 1924 from the Southport School to the former St Peter's Church, and installed in the present church in 1959.⁴

Casework and façade pipes (central flat non-speaking)
[Photograph by Howard Baker, c.1989]

Until the mid 1970s, it had the following specification, with the pipework for the two manuals on a common chest:

Draw-stop console
Compass: 54/30
Mechanical action.⁵

The instrument was rebuilt by Walter Emerson of Toowoomba in 1975-76 with electro-pneumatic action using Kegellade (cone-valve) chests, and a new detached console. The Dulciana 8ft and Flute 8ft were swapped between the two manuals at this time, and a Sifflute 1-1/3ft was added on the second manual in 1982.⁶ Emerson also increased the manual compass to 61 notes, and completed the basses of the Dulciana 8ft (from Tenor f down) and Gemshorn 4ft (bottom octave).⁷

New detached console supplied by Walter Emerson in 1976
[Photograph by Howard Baker (c.1989)]

The organ was substantially re-voiced and re-scaled in 1990 by Australian Pipe Organs of Melbourne, at which time the Mixture II was added to the Great and two additional couplers were supplied.⁸ Minor electrical and other modifications were carried out in 1998 by Ian Brown of Ballina, who also softened the Gemshorn 4ft stop.⁹ The organ was again substantially re-voiced with raised wind pressures in 2010 by W.J. Simon Pierce. At the same time, a Pedal Bass Flute 8ft stop was added by extension, and the console was turned 90 degrees to face across the gallery.¹⁰

Stop-key console
Compass: 61/30
Electro-pneumatic action.¹¹

If, as seems likely, this organ came originally from St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Ipswich, it was one of the earliest organs in Queensland. Of the original organ, however, only the pipework (which is of English origin) and the Pedal windchest remain. The case is of Silky Oak, a timber commonly used in Queensland furniture.¹²

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1 Anglican Records and Archive Centre Guide to Records (DioceseofBrisbaneWeb, 2001) - accessed September 2011.

2 Donald Watson & Judith McKay, Queensland Architects of the 19th Century: A Biographical Dictionary (Brisbane: Queensland Museum, 1994), p. 15.

3 Personal communication to G. Cox from Robert Moore (Director of Music, The Southport School), September 1974. Bursary records for the period 1920-26 were reportedly unavailable at this time.

4 Personal communication to G. Cox from Grace Wilkinson (Organist), May 1974.

5 Specification noted by G. Cox, May 1974.

6 Personal communicatiuon to G. Cox from Walter Emerson, May 1975 and February 1976; and from Grace Wilkinson, December 1976. Specification noted by G. Cox, 1977 and 1985.

7 Personal communication to G. Cox from Robert Heatley, October 1990.

8 Loc. cit.; Organ Society of Queensland Newsletter, vol. 18, no. 1 (August 1990), p. 56.

9 The Organ Voice, vol. 24, no. 1 (March 1998), p. 30.

10 David Vann, 'The Organ of St Peter's Anglican Church, Southport, Gold Coast, QLD,' Organ Australia, vol. 6, no. 4 (December 2010), p. 40.

11 Specification noted by G. Cox, 1977 and 1985; subsequent changes incorporated as noted above.

12 Personal communication to G. Cox from Robert Heatley, October 1990.