Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated May 2011)
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: church exterior
[photograph by John Maidment (April 2011)]
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: church exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (December 2008)]
St Luke's was built between 1834-35 to the design of architect John Lee Archer in a delightful Georgian Gothic style, and incorporates a crenellated west end tower and clock. The clock and double-sided lectern came from old St David's Cathedral, Hobart. The east window contains stained glass made by Michael O'Connor, of London, in 1864.1
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: church interior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (December 2008)]
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: church interior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (December 2008)]
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: organ
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (December 2008)]
The organ was built in 1868 by Bevington & Sons, London, for Trinity School Room, Launceston. An invoice from this firm, dated 15 June 1868, fol: 565, is held in the archives of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Launceston.2 The invoice has been marked on the rear "1868 Trinity School Fund Robert Sharpe E[squir]e for Organ." The cost of the organ was £74 19 6.
An account in the Launceston Examiner for Saturday 18 December 1868, p.5 records the following:
CONCERT. - A vocal and instrumental concert took place last evening, in Trinity School Room, in aid of a fund for the purchase of a small organ which has just been placed in the above building. The programme embraced both sacred and secular music of the first order; and the names of the performers are a sufficient guarantee that the various items were ably rendered. ...
Secondary sources suggest that the organ was placed later in the Congregational Church, Tamar Street, Launceston; however, this is unable to be substantiated.3 It could not have been before 1881 when a reed organ was in use there. The organ was installed in St John's Anglican Church, Devonport in 1909, the gift of a parishioner, later indicated as Mr A. Munnew, where it was first used on Easter Day.4 It was rebuilt in 1966 by K.R. Davis & Son, at which time a new case, radiating-concave pedal board and swell box were provided. The organ was installed at Richmond in 1984 by Australian Pipe Organs Pty Ltd when the Devonport church acquired a larger organ built by Fred Taylor for a church in Melbourne. More recently the casework of the organ has been painted and cornices placed on the upper side sections, with a marked improvement in its overall appearance.5 The builder's name in painted in gold on a board behind the keys.
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: organ
[photograph by John Maidment (April 2011)]
| Manual Open Diapason Stop Diapason Bass Claribel Dulciana Principal Flute Manual to Pedal coupler Pedal Bourdon |
8 8 8 8 4 4 16 |
TC CC-BB TC TC addition [1966?] |
St Luke's Anglican Church, Richmond: console details – drawstops and painted nameplate
[photograph by John Maidment (April 2011)]
Order from Bevington & Sons, London for the organ for Trinity School Room, Launceston
(kindly supplied by Jenny Gill from the Holy Trinity Church, Launceston archives)
1 St Luke's Church of England, Richmond, Tasmania, n.d.
2 Kindly supplied by Jenny Gill
3 Brian Clark & Michael Johnson, Pipe Organs of Tasmania. 3rd ed. Hobart, Tas.: Hobart Organ Society, 2002, see under organs 49, 61
4 The Mercury, 13 January 1909, p.2
5 Images taken by Trevor Bunning
6 Details noted by John Maidment 1970