Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church
Barolin Street, Bundaberg

Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane, 1926, tubular-pneumatic action
Rebuilt, enlarged and installed in new church 1937
Electrified & enlarged 1980 Whitehouse Bros
2 manuals, 12 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action

Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church, Bundaberg
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2010, 2012 (last updated April 2012)

The organ in this church was built in 1926 by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane for the earlier church on this site at an initial cost of £780.¹ It appears to have been completed around June that year, as it was reported at a meeting of the Methodist Executive Committee on 2 July that 'a new pipe organ had been erected in the Bundaberg Church'.² A plaque on the present console describes it as the 'Jubilee Memorial Organ 1876-1926,'³ from which it can be inferred that the congregation was established in 1876.

The instrument originally comprised seven stops, with tubular-pneumatic action.

Methodist Church, Bundaberg (c.1908)
[Photograph: John Oxley Library,
State Library of Queensland]

When the present church was opened in 1937, the organ was installed by Whitehouse Bros with two additional stops (Swell Oboe 8ft and Great Stop Diapason 8ft).⁴ The pipes were placed at this time in a chamber at the front of the church, speaking through a grille, and the specification was as follows.

 

GREAT Open Diapason Stop Diapason Dulciana Flute SWELL Lieblich Gedact Viola da Gamba Principal Oboe Swell tremulant PEDAL Bourdon COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell to Great Swell Super Swell Sub

8 8 8 4 8 8 4 8 16

[1937] [stpd bass] [gvd bass] [1937]

Detached stop-key console
Tubular-pneumatic action
Compass: 58/30
Hitch-down swell lever
Pedalboard: radiating & concave.⁵

 

Interior of the Methodist Church, Bundaberg (1937)
[Photograph: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

The organ was electrified and further enlarged in 1980 by Whitehouse Bros with the addition of three further stops (Swell Mixture III, Great Fifteenth 2ft, and Pedal Bass Flute 8ft).⁶ The manual compass was increased to 61 notes, and a balanced swell-pedal provided. At the same time, the organ loft was extended into and above the choir stalls at the front of the church.⁷

Interior of the Uniting Church, Bundaberg (after 1980)
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]

 

The choir stalls have since been removed, and the sanctuary area completely redesigned.

The present interior of the church (2010)
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]

 

Some of the original stop nomenclature was apparently changed in 1980, rendering the specification as follows:

 

 

GREAT Open Diapason Clarabella Dulciana Flute Fifteenth SWELL Gedact Salicional Principal Mixture Oboe PEDAL Bourdon Bass Flute COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell to Great Swell Super Swell Sub Swell to Great Sub Swell to Great Super

8 8 8 4 2 8 8 4 III 8 16 8

[1937] [1980] [1980] [1937] [1980] [1980] [1980]

Electo-pneumatic action
Detached stop-key console
Compass: 61/30
Balanced swell pedal
3 thumb pistons to Great Organ
3 thumb pistons to Swell Organ
Pedalboard: radiating & concave.⁸

________________________________________________________________________

1 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-1940), p. 111.

2 The Brisbane Courier (5 July 1926), p. 11.

3 Plaque photographed by Trevor Bunning, November 2010.

4 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-1940), p. 229.

5 Collected Specifications of Bernie Brohan [c.1952]; Letter from Alfred Hickman to Percy Brier (20March 1951), supplied by R.K. Boughen; Specification noted by G. Cox, July 1974.

6 Personal communication to G. Cox from David Vann, c.1985.

7 The Organ Voice, vol. 24, no. 3 (September 1998), p. 10.

8 Specification noted by Trevor Bunning, November 2010. Additional details in square brackets derived from earlier information.

 

[Photographs by Trevor Bunning (November 2010)]