Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated July 2011)
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda: exterior (Simon Colvin)
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated July 2011)
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda: exterior (Simon Colvin)
St George’s Church was designed by architect Albert Purchas. The foundation stone of the first section, comprising the western section of the nave, was laid by Sir James McCulloch KCMG on 21 April 1877 and the first service held on 1 October 1877. Transepts and the apse were added and the completed building opened on 3 October 1880, this being due to the ‘enthusiasm and liberality’ of McCulloch, a former premier of Victoria. The Australasian Sketcher on 23 October 1880 noted that the total length of the building was 118ft 6 in, by 40ft wide and that the striking octagonal tower to the north-west was 110ft 6 in high. The exterior was constructed from brick, on a bluestone plinth, and the dressings were executed in Waurn Ponds freestone. The stained glass windows were all by Ferguson & Urie.
Albert Purchas had previously designed parts of Christ Church, Brunswick, Christ Church, St Kilda, St George’s, Queenscliff (a pastiche of the medieval Skelton Church, Yorkshire) and St Luke’s, Yea but St George’s was certainly his ecclesiastical tour-de-force. It was probably the first major church design in Melbourne in which polychrome brickwork had been lavishly employed both externally and internally.
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
interior showing the organ case with its original pierced panelling (Uniting Church Archives)
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
interior showing the organ case with its altered front panelling (Simon Colvin)
The organ was built in 1881 by Thomas Christopher Lewis and was a two-manual organ of 15 speaking stops and three couplers. The choice of builder was due to the organist at St George’s, Thomas Brentnall (1846-1937), who had played a Lewis organ at Wesley Church, Middlesbrough, UK before his emigration. In his biography My Memories (Melbourne: Robertson & Mullens, 1938), Brentnall relates on page 55:
“When I accepted the position [at St George’s], at the request of Sir James McCulloch, it was on the understanding that they would install a proper pipe organ instead of the American organ then in use. Shortly afterwards I was authorized to get into touch with English makers and to spend £1,000 on an instrument. I obtained from the makers the specifications of the organ in my Middlesbrough Church, and, with the money placed at my disposal in London, gave the order for a replica to be sent out here. In order to have better command of the choir, I arranged for the console to be detached from the body of the organ. This involved an immense number of trackers, but the English work was so excellent that it gave no trouble. I have thus been the medium of the introduction of an organ into two churches, one in Australia and the other in Scotland. I ought to mention that Mr. Fincham, of Richmond, did the actual erection and did it well – and he was generous in his praise of the splendid quality of the maker’s work.”
Tenders had also been sought from George Fincham and Hill & Son. The organ was built to one of Lewis’s standard designs as outlined in his work Organ Building and Bell Founding. It appears to have been design number 10, with the 2ft separated from the Mixture originally specified as three ranks 15.19.22.
| GREAT Bourdon Open Diapason Lieblich Gedact Salicional Octave Flute Flautina Mixture 19.22 Swell to Great SWELL Geigen Principal Rohr Flöte Geigen Principal Horn Oboe PEDAL Open Bass Sub Bass Great to Pedals Swell to Pedals |
16 8 8 8 4 4 2 II 8 8 4 8 8 16 16 |
gvd.bass |
The Argus of 8 September 1882, p.5 reported the opening of the organ:
ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH, EAST ST. KILDA.
“At St. George's Presbyterian Church, East St Kilda, a concert was given last night in celebration of the opening of the new organ. There was a very large attendance. Mr. T. Brentnall, the conductor, had under his baton his own choir of St. George's Church, assisted by members of the choirs from West St. Kilda, Williamstown, and Toorak, and musical volunteer friends of the congregation, numbering in all some 80 voices. The solo voices were those of Mrs. Palmer, soprano; Mr. Alfred Ford, tenor; and Mr. B.T. Moroney, basso. Mr. T H. Guenett did duty at the organ. … The new instrument is by T.C. Lewis and Co., of London. The erection and fitting of the instrument has been carried out under the direction of Mr. George Fincham, the organ-builder, of Bridge-road, Richmond. The quality of it is remarkably bright and full, and the effect in such a well-sounding building as St George's Presbyterian Church most satisfactory. “
The console was located in front of the organ with a fully mechanical key and stop action and the case filled with spotted metal pipes which appear to have been stencilled after their arrival. The case had pierced panels at a lower level, two of which survive in the access doors. It is interesting that The Argus reporter noted the outstanding sound of the instrument, which floods the building in an unrestrained manner. The pipework appears to have survived unaltered, retaining its original high pitch and cone tuning and it is the most unaltered of any of the five Lewis organs exported to Australia. All of the Lewis metal pipes are of spotted metal.
Insert fourth image of the organ:
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
organ case and the 1935 console (Simon Colvin)
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
organ case with the remaining pierced panels (Simon Colvin)
In 1935, the organ was rebuilt by Frederick Taylor, who converted the action to tubular-pneumatic and provided a new three-manual detached drawstop console, with couplers controlled by stopkeys, and added a Choir Organ six stops.
| GREAT Bourdon Open Diapason Lieblich Gedact Salicional Octave Flute Flautina Mixture 19.22 Swell to Great Choir to Great SWELL Geigen Principal Rohr Flute Geigen Principal Horn Oboe Tremulant Sub Octave Unison Off Octave CHOIR Viola Dulciana Viol d’Orchestre Voix Celeste Rohr Flute Clarinet Tremulant Sub Octave Unison Off Octave Swell to Choir PEDAL Open Bass Sub Bass Principal Bass Flute Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal |
16 8 8 8 4 4 2 II 8 8 4 8 8 8 8 8 8 4 8 16 16 8 8 |
stopped metal gvd bass (enclosed) TC A B A B |
Compass: 56/30
Tubular-pneumatic action
Balanced mechanical swell pedals
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
left hand stop jamb (Simon Colvin)
Insert seventh image of the organ:
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
right hand stop jamb (Simon Colvin)
Insert eighth image of the organ:
St George’s Uniting Church, East St Kilda:
coupler stopkeys (Simon Colvin)
In 1998, the tubular-pneumatic action was converted to electro-pneumatic by Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd. The tubular-pneumatic action had become increasingly unreliable, exacerbated by the closeness of the action to the church floor and the effects of changing humidity. Most of the Taylor components were stored within the organ, and the console was carefully conserved, with no outward changes. The order of the manuals was changed at this time, resiting the Choir Organ to the bottom keyboard; in 1935 it had played from the top keyboard.
The organ retains the two Lewis slider chests, of generous dimensions, the Lewis wind system, all of the Lewis pipework, and most of the Lewis casework.