Uniting Church, West Kempsey: exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (29 September 2015)]
Uniting Church, West Kempsey: exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (29 September 2015)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Kelvin Hastie
© OHTA, 2015 (last updated September 2015)
Uniting Church, West Kempsey: organ case
[photograph by John Maidment (29 September 2015)]
Kempsey Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church was built in 1953, with the foundation stones set by Frank O. Secomb and the Revd Wesley Tredinnick. The congregation previously worshipped in a building in Belgrave Street, which was seriously damaged by the floods of 1949-50, when the front wall of the building collapsed. Materials were salvaged and used in the construction of the new church on higher ground, with the organ being recovered and restored to use by S.T. Noad of Sydney.1 The Noad firm had also removed and repaired the console after an earlier flood of 1940, when water rose to the level of the Great manual.2
Methodist Church, Carrington Avenue, Strathfield: the George Fincham & Son organ now at Kempsey
[photograph from a contemporary postcard]
The organ was built in 1908 by George Fincham & Son for the Methodist Church in Carrington Avenue, Strathfield, but was displaced in 1925 by a much larger three-manual instrument by W.L. Roberts. The Fincham organ, with 11 speaking stops, three couplers and tubular-pneumatic action, was purchased by the Kempsey Church for £500 and installed by W.G. Rendall, the total cost of the project rising to around £1,000. Maintenance later passed to C.W. Leggo, followed by S.T. Noad.3
The instrument was electrified in 1974 by Ron Mapstone, who provided a detached stopkey console with Kimber-Allen fittings, the total cost being $4,000. The Pedal Bass 8 was added at some stage. The instrument otherwise retains many of its 1908 features, although it is clear that the casework and associated panelling has been reconstructed to suit the organ's present configuration.
The specification of the organ is as follows:
| GREAT Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Dulciana Principal Flute SWELL Viol Diapason Lieblich Gedeckt Salicional Octave Oboe Swell Super Tremulant PEDAL Bourdon Bass COUPLERS Swell to Great Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell Super Swell Octave to Great |
8 8 8 4 4 8 8 8 4 8 16 8 |
Electro-magnetic action
Compass 61/30
2 pistons each to Great and Swell
Balanced swell pedal4
1. http://www.kempsey.nsw.gov.au/heritage/pubs/walks-in-history-west-kempsey.pdf. Accessed by John Maidment, 15 June 2015.
2. Personal communication from A.E. Secomb to Kelvin Hastie, 5 January 1979.
3. Ibid.
4. Specification and other features contained in photographs taken by Trevor Bunning in May 2010.
Uniting Church, West Kempsey: organ façade and church interior
[photographs by Trevor Bunning (May 2010)]
Uniting Church, West Kempsey: interior
[photographs by Trevor Bunning (29 September 2015)]
Uniting Church, West Kempsey: console, stops and pipework
[photographs by Trevor Bunning (May 2010)]