Methodist Church

Sydney Road, Brunswick

Built by George Fincham: opened 1871 at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Balaclava
Installed 1884 present location
Rebuilt & enlarged 1942 C.W. Andrewartha
2 manuals, 13 speaking stops, 6 couplers, tubular-pneumatic action

 



Methodist Church, Brunswick - exterior
[photograph by John Maidment (3 November 2009)]


Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated September 2023)

This very distinctive polychrome brick church was designed by Percy Oakden and opened on 6 February 1873.1 The façade incorporates a three-arch recessed porch, large window and tower and spire to the right. The clerestoried and aisled interior includes polychromatic embellishment to the arches, which rest on iron columns.



The Fincham organ of 1871 – detail from photograph taken at Brunswick
[photograph from a postcard in the possession of John Maidment]

The organ was built by George Fincham and opened at Holy Trinity Church, Balaclava in 1871.2 Originally built as a single manual organ with seven speaking stops, Fincham added in 1876 a Double Diapason and Keraulophon and extended the compass of the Bourdon.3 It incorporated an organ case with both classical and Gothic detailing, a crenellated cornice and stencilled dummy façade pipes.



Methodist Church, Brunswick – interior showing organ to the right, placed in south aisle
[photograph from a postcard in the possession of John Maidment]

The organ was opened at Brunswick on 17 March 1884 at a recital given by Mr Stevens, Organist of Christ Church, South Yarra.4



Methodist Church, Brunswick – organ following rebuilding by C.W. Andrewartha
[photograph from Baker, op.cit. (circa 1991)]

C.W. Andrewartha rebuilt the organ in 1942 with tubular-pneumatic action and a detached stopkey console and added the Great Organ and a new organ case.5

GREAT
Open Diapason
Stop. Diapason
Dulciana
Principal
Wald Flute
Great Super
Swell to Great
8
8
8
4
4



    
SWELL
Bourdon
Open Diapason
Claribel
Gamba
Principal
Rohr Flute
[spare slide]
Swell Sub
Swell Super
Tremulant
16
8
8
8
4
4
*
*
*
*







  
PEDAL
Bourdon
Bass Flute
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
16
8
A
A


  

Great combinations to Pedal
Swell combinations to Pedal

* common bass octave

Compass: 61/30
Detached stopkey console
Balanced swell pedal
3 thumb pistons to Great
3 thumb pistons to Swell6

The church has been closed for many years and the organ is no longer playable. The future of the building and the organ is uncertain.

1 Illustrated Australian Post, 21 March 1873, p.12 describes and illustrates the building

2 E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders (Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969), p.121

3 Ibid.

4 The Argus, 19 March 1884, p.5

5 Further details are given in Tim Baker, "The Organ of the Brunswick Uniting (Methodist) Church", Victorian Organ Journal, August 1991, pp.5-11

6 Specification noted 1967 John Maidment