Former St John's Catholic Cathedral, Maitland (1846 building)
[Photograph by John Maidment (2005)]
Former St John's Catholic Cathedral, Maitland (1846 building)
[Photograph by John Maidment (2005)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment, Michael Sternbeck and others
© OHTA, 2011, 2018 (last updated February 2018)
Saint John the Baptist's Church, opened in 1846 and enlarged in 1862, became the cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland in November 1866. This sandstone building is thought to have been designed by the noted colonial architect Mortimer Lewis. It has a distinctive western tower with pinnacles and battlements, and is a good example of Colonial Gothick.
In November 1933, because the seating accommodation had become inadequate, a Pro-Cathedral was opened in what had been the Catholic Hall, built in 1922 opposite the old cathedral. From 1933, the old cathedral was used as the Parish Hall, but in the 1950s it was degraded by the addition of a second storey with a new tile roof. The upper storey was used as classrooms for the adjacent Marist Brothers School.
In the 1989 earthquake, both the Pro-Cathedral and the old stone Cathedral were significantly damaged and were closed for repair. The Diocese made a decision to relocate its Cathedral to the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton. In the early 1990s, whilst refurbishing the pro-Cathedral and reinstating it as a hall, the old stone Cathedral was re-opened as a chapel, with a crypt for the deceased bishops of the Diocese. The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle was re-named in 1995 and Sacred Heart Church, Hamilton, became the Cathedral in 1996.
The old stone Cathedral, whose stonework had become eroded and unstable over a period of years, underwent a complete external restoration during 2015 - 2016, including the removal of the 1950s upper storey and reinstatement of a slate roof.1
The Willis organ in St John's Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Maitland
[Photograph by Michael Sternbeck (c.1988-89)]
The new organ by Henry Willis & Sons of London was heard for the first time in St John's on Sunday 25 July 1880. The west gallery had been altered for the purpose:
The New Organ in St. John's Cathedral.
On Sunday last the new organ just placed in St. John's Cathedral, West Maitland, was for the first time used in the solemn services of the place. . . . Recently, some alterations and additions have been made to the gallery. It was found necessary to remove the old choir gallery, owing to the sombre appearance and strait limits, and a fashionable, more modern, and more commodious structure has been substituted. . .
The new organ was built by Messrs. H. Willis and Sons, of London. The instrument has two complete manual organs; the compass of each is CC to G in Alto, fifty-six notes; also an independent pedal organ, CCC to Tenor F, thirty notes. It is enclosed in a neat panelled case, with handsomely finished speaking pipes in front. The pipes are of the best spotted metal. The action contains all the latest improvements, thereby rendering the touch light and elastic.
[The following stops are then given, albeit in a slightly confused order:]
|
|
Three couplers
The tone of the new instrument is notably sweet; its power was not put to the proof on Sunday morning. It will manifestly render more effective the services conducted in the cathedral, and worshippers therein are to be congratulated upon so valuable an addition to their means of praise.2
The Willis organ was moved in 1933 into the Pro-Cathedral, and rebuilt into a room contiguous with a large gallery. The notion that this building was a former picture theatre3 appears to be without basis: Architect-designed in 1922, it nevertheless resembled a picture theatre, including a vestibule with ticket offices and cloak rooms, a dress circle, a proscenium opening, dressing rooms and stage.4 The old stage was converted into a sanctuary when the building became the Pro-Cathedral in 1933.5
The building was evidently used at times as a picture theatre,6 and the chamber at the rear of the gallery clearly gives the appearance of having been a projection box.7 The siting of the organ there was most unfortunate both acoustically and visually, as much of the upper casework was hidden from view.
The Willis organ in St John's Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Maitland
[Photograph by David Evans (c.1973)]
The organ is an almost completely intact example of the work of the Henry Willis & Sons. The specification is almost identical to the celebrated 'Willis on Wheels' organ of 1881 at St Paul's Cathedral, London, except that the London instrument had a Cornopean on the Swell rather than a Hautboy.7 The Lieblich Gedact of the Maitland organ has stopped metal pipes to the bottom note, the bass pipes having double mouths. The Swell Diapason has a stopped bass.
Console of the Willis organ in St John's Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Maitland
[Photograph by Michael Sternbeck (c.1988-89)]
At a later time, the stop labels have been replaced, so that the specification below, recorded in 1973, shows several departures from the original Willis nomenclature:
| GREAT ORGAN Open Diapason Stop Diapason Principal Fifteenth SWELL ORGAN Diapason Gemshorn Oboe PEDAL ORGAN Bourdon COUPLERS Swell to Great Swell to Pedal Great to Pedal |
8 8 4 2 8 4 8 16 |
Mechanical action
Compass: 56/30
Trigger swell lever.8
Later changes also included the painting of the organ casework and the spraying of the façade pipes with gold paint, obliterating the original decoration.
With the establishment of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Hamilton, Newcastle, the Willis organ was dismantled from the gallery of the former pro-Cathedral in 1991 and moved into local storage.
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1 Historical details compiled from local sources by Michael Sternbeck.
2 The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser (27 July 1880), pp. 4-5. See also The Express (31 July 1880), p. 7, cited in Graeme Rushworth, Historic Organs of New South Wales (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1988), p. 353.
3 Personal communication from John Maidment to Graeme Rushworth, cited in Rushworth, loc.cit.
4 'The Catholic Hall,' The Maitland Daily Mercury (6 November 1922), p. 4.
5 'New Pro-Cathedral for Maitland: Ready in November,' The Newcastle Sun (30 October 1933), p. 10.
6 'Reopening of Cathedral Hall,' Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate (17 January 1927), p. 6.
7 A. Grahame, 'Maitland – our First Tour,' Hunter District Organ Music Society Newsletter (July 1977), p. 3, cited in Rushworth, loc. cit.
8 Specification noted by John Maidment, November 1973.