Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA (last updated May 2011)
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale : exterior from south-west
[photograph by Anthony Hahn (13 March 2011)]
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale :
exterior showing original treatment of brick walls
[photograph from Picture Australia]
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale :
interior from west gallery showing original decorative treatment
[photograph from Picture Australia]
This building was constructed in 1886-7 to the design of Barker and Henderson. Edgar Jerome Henderson was also to design St James' Catholic Church, Gardenvale and St Mary's Star of the Sea Church, West Melbourne before moving to Western Australia. The building is notable for the broad polygonal plaster-vaulted apse which, together with the side chapel, is elaborately painted and decorated. The interior also includes marble fittings with mosaic panels and numerous stained glass windows. Originally of brick with decorated Gothic window tracery of Warn Ponds stone, the church is now cement-faced. The first Bishop of Sale, Dr James Corbett, was appointed in 1887, having previously been parish priest of St Mary's, East St Kilda, where he was closely associated with the architect William Wardell.1
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale :
organ showing decorative treatment before restoration
[photograph by John Maidment (c.1985)]
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale : organ showing restored decorative treatment
[photograph by Anthony Hahn (14 January 2011)]
The organ was installed to one side of the rear gallery and was first used at Christmas 1903.2 The local newspaper reported:
The new pipe organ recently installed at St. Mary's Cathedral which was generously donated by His Lordship The Rev. Dr. Corbett, was played for the first time on Christmas Day. It is a fine instrument, and will make a handsome addition to the Cathedral. It has been greatly admired, and favorably commented on by those in a position to judge. The choir, under the conductorship of the organist, Miss O'Farrell, rendered Mozart's 12th Mass. Messrs Angel and Tuohy, tenor and baritone respectively, Miss Cummings sang an "Ave Maria," and Miss Emily Richardson took the solos in the " Adeste Fidelis." Arrangements are being made to materially augment the choir.
It appears not to have been installed by Geo. Fincham & Son3, so it may have been placed here by either William Anderson or Frederick Taylor. It is clearly older than this date, but its early history cannot yet be established. It is difficult to identify the builder, but it appears to be of local manufacture and more than likely the work of the St Kilda organbuilder William Stone. This attribution is based upon the case design, which resembles the 1879 organ he built for the Congregational Church, Alma Road, St Kilda, with its two circular towers and central flat, the pipes placed on a v-shaped toeboard. The metal pipework is of spotted metal, like the St Kilda instrument (now at The Avenue Church, Blackburn). It seems that the nucleus of the Sale instrument may have been a single-manual organ of four ranks, to which the Swell Organ and casework was later added. The drawstop labels appear very similar to those used by Fincham & Hobday.4
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale :
pipework of Great Organ before restoration
[photograph by John Maidment (c.1985)]
The specification before restoration was:
| GREAT Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Bass Clarabella Treble Principal Fifteenth Swell to Great SWELL Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Bass Flute Gamba Flute PEDAL Bourdon Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 2 8 8 8 8 4 16 |
TC CC-BB TC TC CC-BB TC TC on reed slide |
Compass: 56/30
Mechanical key and stop action
Trigger swell lever5
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale :
restored casework and console, taken in S.J. Laurie factory, Mordialloc
[photograph by John Maidment (1993)]
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale : restored console
[photograph by Anthony Hahn (20 March 2011)]
St Mary's Catholic Cathedral, Sale : right-hand stop jamb
[photograph by Anthony Hahn (20 March 2011)]
The organ was restored by S.J. Laurie Pty Ltd, Mordialloc, Victoria, in 1993. The key and stop actions were fully overhauled, and the casework and façade pipes decorated by Marc Nobel. A Mixture III ranks was added to the Great Organ, which was placed on a new slider windchest of ample dimensions, an Oboe was placed on the Swell Organ in place of the Gamba and a Gemshorn in place of the Flute 4, and a full-length metal Bassoon 16 was added to the Pedal Organ on electro-pneumatic action.6
| GREAT Open Diapason Claribel Principal Fifteenth Mixture 19.22.26 Swell to Great SWELL ORGAN Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Gemshorn Oboe PEDAL ORGAN Bourdon Bassoon Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
8 8 4 2 III 8 8 4 8 16 16 |
(Flute slide) (Gamba slide) |
Compass: 56/30
Mechanical key and stop action
Trigger swell lever
2 composition pedals7
1 Information from Victorian Heritage Database: http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/vhd/heritagevic#detail_places;69978 (accessed 28 May 2011)
2 Gippsland Times 31 December 1903, p.2
3 Records of George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd, housed at the State Library of Victoria
4 Noted in 1985 by John Maidment
5 Specification noted in 1967 by Robert Heatley
6 Noted in 1993 by John Maidment
7 Specification noted in 1993 by John Maidment