St Luke's Anglican Church
Mosman Park

Hill & Son, London

St Luke's Church was designed by architect James William Wright;  the foundation stone was laid in 1897.  Wright was born in England in 1854 and after serving his articles there, arrived in Perth in 1881 following four years in Adelaide.  He was also responsible for several buildings at the Ascot Racecourse at Belmont.

 

The organ was imported for Mr George Hillman and was built in 1893 by Hill & Son, London (job no. 2115).  It was moved to St Luke's in 1905, probably by R.C. Clifton, who added casework and a tremulant.  The instrument is of compact dimensions and thus the Great Gedeckt (with metal trebles) provides the bass octave for most of the Swell.  A similar arrangement may be found in the 1879 Hill & Son organ now at Wesley College, Glen Waverley, Victoria.  In the early 1990s, the Hill Dulciana was transposed to form a Fifteenth, but the tenor octave pipework has been stored and this change is reversible.  The organ was fully restored in 2000 by F.J. Larner and Co and Pipe Organs WA as a joint project which has included a restoration of the facade decoration and the casework, with new side panelling.  The project consultant was Anne Page, a well known Perth Organist who has been based in Cambridge, England since 1978.  The instrument retains its characteristic Hill sound and console details, including scrolled key cheeks.

GREAT Open Diapason Gedeckt Principal Fifteenth SWELL Hohl Flute Salicional Wald Flute Oboe Tremulant PEDAL Bourdon

8 8 4 2 8 8 4 8 16

Compass:  56/30

2 couplers

2 composition pedals to Great

Mechanical key and stop actions

Attached drawknob console

 

         •    Ian Molyneux, Looking around Perth:  a guide to the architecture of Perth and surrounding towns.  East Fremantle:  Wescolour Press, 1981, p.40