Peace Lutheran Church, Gatton
[Photograph by David Vann (June 2012)]
Peace Lutheran Church, Gatton
[Photograph by David Vann (June 2012)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012 (last updated June 2012)
Established in the 1840s, Gatton was settled from the 1850s onwards by German farmers, and is now the principal agricultural town in the fertile Lockyer Valley, west of Brisbane. The present church was opened in April 1978.
Commemorative plaque marking the opening of
Peace Lutheran Church, Gatton
[Photograph by David Vann (June 2012)]
Although the builder's plate gives the date 1979 (see below), the organ was not completed until 1980. It was built by Walter Emerson of Toowoomba, and was the last organ he built before his death in 1986. The organ incorporates two stops (Great Principal 8ft to Tenor C & Dulciana 8ft) from the B.B.Whitehouse & Co. organ in the Methodist Church, Toowong, Brisbane, which Emerson removed in the mid 1970s.1 The bass octave of the Great Principal 8ft stop came from St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Toowoomba.2
In the opinion of Les Rub, who worked with Emerson on this and many other instruments, this organ contains some of Emerson's best workmanship:
It is easy to service and the Roosevelt-type pneumatic motors (exhaust action) are silent in operation. The tonal spectrum is very good, and it is a pity that available funds did not allow the addition of a second 8ft rank (a quiet string, perhaps) on the Swell division. It is located in a fine, modern church, but unfortunately, due to the padded pews and thick carpet, the reverberation is practically zero. Nevertheless, it is still a very effective instrument, and a tribute to Walter's skill and craftsmanship.3
The Great soundboard was overhauled and the pipework cleaned in 2010 by W.J. Simon Pierce of Brisbane.4
The 1980 Emerson organ at Peace Lutheran Church, Gatton
[Photographs by David Vann (June 2012)]
| GREAT Principal Stop Diapason Dulciana Octave Fifteenth Trompette SWELL Gedackt Principal Gemshorn Sifflute Krummhorn PEDAL Bourdon Bass Flute Quinte Trompette COUPLERS Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell to Great Swell Super Octave Swell Sub Octave Swell Super to Great Swell Sub to Great |
8 8 8 4 2 8 8 4 2 1-1/3 8 16 8 5-1/3 8 |
[ex Toowong Methodist, c.1906] [ex Toowong Methodist, c.1906] |
Detached stop-key console
Balanced swell pedal
Compass: 61/30
Electro-pneumatic action.5
Console and console details of the
1980 Emerson organ
[Photographs by David Vann (June 2012)]
___________________________________________________________________
1 Personal communication to G. Cox from Walter Emerson, c.1980.
2 Personal communication to G. Cox from Leslie W. Rub, June 2003.
3 Personal communication to G. Cox from Leslie W. Rub, March 1987.
4 News (10 December 2010), Pierce Pipe Organs website, http://www.piercepipeorgans.com.au - accessed May 2012.
5 Specification supplied by Leslie W. Rub, June 2003.