St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – exterior
(photograph by John Maidment [24 September 2006])
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – exterior
(photograph by John Maidment [24 September 2006])
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2018 (last updated February 2018)
The history of St Silas' Church dates back to 1879, when the parish was founded, an offshoot of St Luke's Church, Emerald Hill (South Melbourne). The first services were held in the Albert Hall, Bevan Street, then for 50 years in a wooden church building on the site of the present service station. That church was enlarged in stages as needed to seat 700.1
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – Louis Williams's projected design 1925
The foundation stone of the present church was laid by the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Stonehaven, on 5 December 1925.2 The cost of the first section was estimated at £8300. The building was dedicated on 3 October 1926 by Archbishop Lees.3 The architect was Louis R. Williams ARVIA. This was a highly imaginative design but it was impossible to complete the building to the original plans on account of its cost, which also included a south transept, chapel, organ chamber, further bays to the nave, and an octagonal tower and spire more than 170 feet high. The interior, rising to 58 feet, was said to be the loftiest of any Anglican church in Melbourne apart from St Paul's Cathedral.4 In the mid-1960s, this was subdivided, and a hall was created at ground level and the church relocated at the upper level.
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – the 1873 George Fincham organ
(photograph by Stephen Baldwin [c.1970])
The first organ was built in 1873 by George Fincham for the Masonic Hall, Lonsdale Street at a cost of £300 and was sold to St Silas' Church in 1886.5
| GREAT Open Diapason Clarabella Dulciana Principal Flute Swell to Great SWELL Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Gemshorn Oboe PEDAL Bourdon Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 4 8 8 4 8 16 |
Compass: 56/30
Mechanical key and stop action
Trigger swell lever
Spotted metal pipework6
The organ was moved into the present building in 1926 by Geo.Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd at a cost of £102-10-0.7 In 1965 it was dismantled and re-erected in the new upper church by Charles Lomas. The swell shutters were not installed. In 1972 it was sold to Hill, Norman & Beard (Australia) Pty Ltd who utilized some of the parts in other instruments.8
St Silas' acquired in 2001 another organ built in the same year by George Fincham for Christ Church Anglican Church, Echuca. This had come from a neighbouring parish, St Anselm's Anglican Church, Middle Park, which closed in that year. In 2005 this organ was sold to St James-the-Less Anglican Church, Mt Eliza.9
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – the 2006 Fincham / APO organ
(photograph by John Maidment [24 September 2006])
The present organ was built in 1925 by Geo.Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd for the Methodist Church, Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills. It was rebuilt by Melbourne organbuilder John S. Parker in 1983 and placed in St Benedict's Catholic Church, Warrigal Road, Burwood. It was sold to St Silas' Anglican Church where it was again rebuilt by Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd and opened in 2006. The instrument included casework from the 1902 Geo.Fincham & Son organ previously in Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Launceston, Tasmania, modelled on the Fincham & Hobday organ at the Presbyterian Church, St Kilda.10 When this was moved by S.J. Laurie to St Stephen's Catholic Church, Reservoir, the casework had been discarded. It includes corbels carved by the distinguished artist Robert Prenzel (1866-1941).11
| GREAT Open Diapason Claribel Flute Principal Twelfth Fifteenth Swell Sub Octave to Great Swell to Great Swell Octave to Great SWELL Open Diapason Gedeckt Viola da Gamba Principal Mixture 15.19.22 Trumpet Swell Sub Octave Swell Octave Tremulant PEDAL Open Diapason Bourdon Quint Flute Octave Flute Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Great & Pedal Pistons Coupled |
8 8 4 2-2/3 2 8 8 8 4 III 8 16 16 10-2/3 8 4 |
A A B B B B |
1-18 new 1-61 new 13-61 new new new 1-12 HN&B open wood, ex Scotch College Memorial Hall |
Compass: 61/30
Detached stopkey console
Electro-pneumatic action12
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – case detail showing the corbels carved by Robert Prenzel
(photograph by John Maidment [24 September 2006])
St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park – interior looking towards sanctuary
(photograph by John Maidment [24 September 2006])
1 http://www.parishoftheparks.com.au/our-history.html
2 The Argus, 18 November 1925, p.31
3 The Age, 6 October 1926, p.11
4 Ibid.
5 E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969), pp.110, 120
6 Specification noted 1966 John Maidment
7 Geo.Fincham & Sons letter books, 8 July 1926
8 Noted by John Maidment 1966, 1972
9 Noted by John Maidment 2005
10 George Fincham letter books (SLV), 31 July 1902, p.814
11 George Fincham letter books (SLV), August 1902, p.894
12 Organ Australia, June 2006, p.44