Zion Lutheran Church
Walla Walla
1869 George Fincham, reb. 1967 Laurie Pipe Organs (2m., 27 sp.st., 8c., el. pn.)
Photo: Bruce Duncan (Oct. 2008)
Photo: Trevor Bunning (October 2023)
From 2003 OHTA Conference Booklet:
The present Zion Church is the third church building on the site. The first (now demolished) was opened in 1870, the second (serving as the hall) in 1889 and the present church in 1924, a spacious cruciform building with tower and spire.
Photo: Trevor Bunning (October 2023)
In 1913 J.E. Dodd supplied the church with a small two-manual mechanical action organ of nine speaking stops which was sold in 1967 to St Peter's Anglican Church, Leeton. The Dodd instrument suffered tonal modifications in 1973 when it was transferred to a new building on the Leeton site.
The organ was built in 1869 by George Fincham for the Wesleyan Church, South Melbourne. The case, consisting of three gabled flats, was unusual in Fincham's oeuvre but very similar to the case of the John Courcelle organ in St Luke's Anglican Church in the same suburb. Various tonal alterations and substitutions were carried out over the years.
The organ as it was originally at the Methodist Church, Cecil Street,
South Melbourne, Victoria (Uniting Church Victoria & Tasmania Archives)
The specification, recorded in 1961 by John Henwood, was as follows:
| GREAT Open Diapason Clarabella Dulciana Principal Flute Fifteenth Trumpet Clarionet Swell to Great SWELL Double Diapason Open Diapason Stop'd Diapason Keraulophon Celeste Principal Piccolo Oboe Clarion PEDAL Open Diapason Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 4 2 8 8 16 8 8 8 8 4 2 8 4 16 |
Upon the closure (and subsequent demolition) of the church in 1965, the instrument was rebuilt by Laurie Pipe Organs in 1967 and installed on a transept gallery of the church at Walla Walla. The action was converted to electro-pneumatic, a detached drawknob console supplied, and several tonal changes took place, particularly additions to the pedal division. The instrument was overhauled in 2013 by Wakeley Pipe Organs Pty Ltd at which time the Great and Swell slider chests were restored and two Great stops (Harmonic Flute and Cromorne) completed to CC using recycled Fincham pipework.
| GREAT Open Diapason Clarabella Dulciana Principal Harmonic Flute Fifteenth Mixture 15.19.22 Trumpet Cromorne hooded SWELL Open Diapason Stopt Diapason Keraulophone Voix Celeste Principal Piccolo Sesquialtera 12.17 Oboe Clarion Tremulant PEDAL Major Bass Open Diapason Bourdon Octave Flute Super Octave Trombone Trumpet Octave Trumpet |
8 8 8 4 4 2 III 8 8 8 8 8 8 4 2 II 8 4 32 16 16 8 8 4 16 8 4 |
A B C B C B A A A |
gvd.bass completed to CC 2013 Wakeley new hooded: completed to CC 2013 Wakeley gvd. bass Ten. C new extended bass octave to 8ft to be used with the Swell Suboctave coupler replaced the former Pedal Quinte 10-2/3 in 1997 former swell Double Diapason with new bass octave new bass octave |
compass: 61/32
electro-pneumatic action
detached drawknob console
8 couplers
adjustable thumb & toe pistons
In 1997, a Great Sub Melodic coupler was added. This couples the lowest note played on the Great to the Pedal stops.
Photo: Trevor Bunning (October 2023)
Photos: James Flores (1 January 2017)
- Historical information provided by John Wenke 2003.
- John Maidment, Gazetteer of New South Wales Pipe Organs. Melbourne: Society of Organists (Victoria) lnc., 1981.
- E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders. Carlton; Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 151-152.
- Society of organists (Victoria) incorporated Newsletter November 1967, p. 11 .
- Bob Jefferson, Steve Laurie, Organ Builder: His Life and Works. Somers, Vic. : the Author, 1998, pp.288-290.
- 2013 work advised by Graham Lieschke in email to John Maidment 21 August 2013
- 2013 work as described in a church pamphlet about the history of the organ
Photo: Trevor Bunning (October 2003)
Border Mail, October 1967
Photo: Trevor Bunning (October 2023)