[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]
[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012, 2017 (last updated January 2017)
The first Anglican Church of St Alban the Martyr in Auchenflower was dedicated by Archbishop Sharp on 18 November 1923. The foundation stone of a new brick church was set and blessed by Archbishop Strong in July 1954. The parish was amalgamated with Christ Church, Milton, in 2009, becoming part of the new parish of Auchenflower-Milton.1 The Auchenflower church was closed around 2015-16.
The organ was built by John Hamer-Howorth in 1971-72, using second-hand pipework from England. Like his earlier organ at St Andrew's Anglican Church, Caloundra (1967), which has since been broken up, it had only one manual and all the stops are divided at middle c/c#.
John Hamer-Howorth (1913-1988) was an Anglican priest, and formerly a stained-glass artist in England for twenty years. He had worked for a year as a draftsman at Henry Willis & Sons, London.2 His final organ was at St John's College, Morpeth, NSW, in 1983.3 Hamer-Howorth described the Auchenflower instrument as follows:
Auchenflower as well as Caloundra have my own stamp in that I have divided every stop at middle C ... Totally enclosed except for the large Open Diapason 8 and the eight-foot long string pipes which can be seen at the sides ... I cantelevered the great organ right out to sound the chorus ... bored into the channels to get the supply to the primaries of the great pneumatics.4
The 1972 Hamer-Howorth organ at St Alban's, Auchenflower
[Photographs by David Vann (May 2012)]
Console details, including the unusual 25-note pedalboard
[Photographs by David Vann (May 2012)]
| MANUAL Geigen Lieblich Gedact Keraulophon Principal Fifteenth [Sifflote] Trumpet PEDAL Contra Flute COUPLERS Manual to Pedal Super Octave Sub Octave Octave |
8 8 8 4 2 [1] 8 16 |
(all stops divided at middle c/c#) [mixture of diapason & string pipes] [by Wadsworth of Manchester (wood and metal)] [marked 4ft] [prepared for only] [hooded] [12 notes only] [to Geigen only] [to Geigen only] |
Tremolo
Compass: 61(divided)/25
Balanced swell pedal
Mechanical action (manual) & pneumatic action (pedals).5
Mechanical action to the enclosed manual soundboard
[Photograph by David Vann (May 2012)]
Plaques on the console
[Photographs by David Vann (May 2012)]
Following the closure of the church, the organ was sold in December 2016 to W.J. Simon Pierce of Brisbane, and broken up.6
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1 Glenda Murrell, Anglican Records and Archive Centre Guide to Records - http://www.anglicanarchives.org.au - accessed January 2017.
2 Personal communication to G. Cox from John Hamer-Howorth, December 1972.
3 The Sydney Organ Journal, vol. 14, no. 4 (August-September 1983), pp. 24-27; Obituary in Organ Society of Queensland Newsletter, vol. 16, no. 4 (February 1989), p. 29.
4 Personal communication to G. Cox from John Hamer-Howorth, December 1972.
5 Specification noted by G. Cox, 1972; Details of Flute stop and Trumpet from personal communication to G. Cox from John Hamer-Howorth, December 1972. Other clarifications and details supplied by Graham Hyde, May 2012.
6 Personal communication to G. Cox from Simon Pierce, January 2017.
