Scots Presbyterian Church, Clayfield
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]
Scots Presbyterian Church, Clayfield
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2011, 2013 (last updated May 2013)
Presbyterians established themselves in this area in 1887, and an organ (presumably a harmonium) was acquired as early as 1888.1 The first church was opened in Balmain Street in May 1889, and the entire building was removed and re-opened in Bellevue Terrace in 1904.2 The church was rebuilt in brick in 1953.
The original Scots Presbyterian Church, Clayfield
[Photograph: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]
First Organ.
The first organ in this church was built by B.B. Whitehouse & Co. of Brisbane in 1907.3 This instrument was moved in 1933 to St Alban's Anglican Church, Toowoomba.
Present Organ.
The present organ was built originally for the old church in 1933 by Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane at a cost of £500, the specification having been agreed in February. It was opened and dedicated on Sunday 9 April 1933, when the organist was Mr H. Roach.4 The organ reportedly incorporated the pedalboard (and possibly also two of the manual keyboards) from the original (Henry Willis & Sons) organ at the Exhibition Building.5 The console, which was originally attached, was moved in 1953-54 during the reconditioning of the organ when the church was rebuilt, and the Oboe 8ft was added to the Swell in 1955.6
This instrument was typical of the standard pneumatic-action Whitehouse instruments of the 1930s, using cone-pallet chests and featuring 'inclined-block type' stop-tabs placed in a row above the upper manual. Indeed, the original specification for Scots Church was very similar to that of the organ built in the same year for the Eagle Junction Congregational Church, the differences being that the Eagle Junction organ lacked a Flute 4ft on the Great, and included an Oboe 8ft on the Swell from the start:
The Clayfield specification was:
| GREAT Open Diapason Salicional Flute SWELL Violin Diapason Gamba Gedact Oboe PEDAL Bourdon COUPLERS Swell to Great Swell to Pedal Great to Pedal Swell to Great Super well to Great Sub |
8 8 4 8 8 8 8 16 |
A A |
[1955] |
Swell tremulant
Attached console
Pedalboard: radiating concave
Balanced swell pedal
Tubular-pneumatic action.7
The organ was rebuilt and enlarged in 1968 by Whitehouse Bros, using electro-pneumatic action. Six new stops were added at this time, and the compass of the original Swell Violin Diapason 8ft was completed. The Swell Tuba Minor 8ft had been removed in 1965 from the organ at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Warwick. The enlarged instrument was dedicated on 25 February 1968.8
Some minor re-voicing and tonal balancing was carried out in the late 1980s by W.J. Simon Pierce.9
The rebuilt and enlarged organ after 1968
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]
| GREAT Open Diapason Stop Diapason Gamba Principal Flute SWELL Violin Diapason Gedact Gamba Flute Oboe Tuba Minor PEDAL Open Diapason Bourdon Cello COUPLERS Swell to Great Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell to Great Sub Swell to Great Super |
8 8 8 4 4 8 8 8 4 8 8 16 16 8 |
A A |
[1968] [originally 'Salicional'] [1968] [bass octave 1968] [1968] [1955] [1968; removed in 1965 from St Andrew's, Warwick] [1968] [1968] |
Swell tremulant
Detached stop-key console
Pedalboard: radiating concave
Balanced swell pedal
Compass: 61/30
2 thumb pistons to Great Organ
2 thumb pistons to Swell Organ
1 reversible piston Great to Pedal
Electro-pneumatic action.10
Console of the rebuilt and enlarged organ,
possibly incorporating two keyboards and the pedalboard
from the Exhibition organ (1892) by Henry Willis & Sons
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]
_________________________________________________________________________
1 Scots Church Clayfield Jubilee Souvenir 1887-1937 (Brisbane, 1937), p. 8.
2 Richard Bardon, The Centenary History of The Presbyterian Church of Queensland (Brisbane: W.R. Smith & Paterson, 1949), p. 224.
3 The Brisbane Courier (13 August 1907), p. 3. See also: The Brisbane Courier (19 February 1908), p. 6.
4 The Brisbane Courier (8 April 1933), p. 17; Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-1940), p. 306.
5 Personal communication to G. Cox from Kevin Whitehouse, c.1974.
6 Dates and details from Whitehouse Bros List, and personal communication from Kevin M. Whitehouse, c.1974.
7 Collected Organ Specifications of Bernie Brohan (c.1952).
8 Details supplied by Kevin Whitehouse from Whitehouse Bros Records, 1974. The Tuba Minor does not originate from 'a church in Ipswich,' as stated in Organ Society of Queensland Newsletter, vol. 16, no. 5 (April 1989), p. 13.
9 Simon Pierce, 'A Visit to a Whitehouse Trio,' Organ Society of Queensland Newsletter, vol. 16, no. 5 (April 1989), pp. 11-13, 49.
10 Specification noted by G. Cox, September 1974.