St Francis' Anglican Theological College,
Chapel of the Holy Spirit

Milton Road, Milton

Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane, 1935, for Catholic Apostolic Church, South Brisbane
(subsequently St Thomas' Anglican Church)
2 manuals, 6 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action
Additions 1939, 1946, Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane
Installed in present location with tonal revisions, 1972, Whitehouse Bros, Brisbane
2 manuals, 7 speaking stops, electro-pneumatic action



The Chapel of St Francis' Theological College, Milton
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]

 

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012 (last updated January 2012)


St Francis' Theological College moved to this location in 1936, having previously been established at Nundah. The substantial grounds of the college surround the two-storeyed stone residence 'Old Bishopsbourne,' which was designed by Benjamin Backhouse and constructed in 1865-68 as the residence of Edward Tufnell, the first Anglican Bishop of Brisbane. It remained the home of the Anglican primates of Brisbane until 1964.1



Old Bishopsbourne, Milton, in 1925
[Photograph: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland]

The present stone chapel in the grounds of the College was erected in 1912. Designed by the architect Robin S. Dods in sympathy with Old Bishopsbourne itself, it replaced an earlier timber building of c.1870. The chapel is constructed of Brisbane tuff, with eighteen-inch thick walls. The organ loft at the western end of the chapel was added in 1971.2

The organ was installed in 1972,3 having been located originally in the Catholic Apostolic Church, South Brisbane (later St Thomas' Anglican Church), where it was completed in March 1935 by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane at a cost of £543.15.6.4



Interior of the Chapel of the Holy Spirit,
St Francis' Theological College, Milton
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]

While the tonal design of the instrument represented no departure from the standard Whitehouse schemes for their pneumatic-action organs from c.1910 onwards, this organ is significant as one of the earliest by the firm to use electro-pneumatic action. The only earlier Whitehouse organs using electro-pneumatic action were extension organs, such as those at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church Bundaberg (1932) and Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Bundaberg (1933), but electric action was here applied for the first time to an organ without extension. It was applied also to the firm's rebuild of the organ at the Central Congregational Church, Ipswich, completed in July 1935, and it is curious that they reverted to the use of pneumatic action in the vast majority of their instruments over the subsequent two decades or more.

Two new stops (Swell Oboe 8ft & Great Principal 4ft) were added in 1939 at a cost of £120.5 Installation of 'Swell to Pedal Couplers' was noted in 1944, and the twelve lowest notes of the Swell Oboe 8ft were added in 1946.6

GREAT
Open Diapason
Gamba
Flute
Principal

SWELL
Lieblich Gedact
Salicional
Oboe

PEDAL
Bourdon

COUPLERS
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Swell to Great Octave

8
8
4
4


8
8
8


16








[from Swell]

[1939]




[1939 & bottom octave 1946]









Tremulant
Detached stop-key console
Radiating concave pedalboard
Balanced swell pedal
Electro-pneumatic action
Compass: not recorded.7




The 1935 Whitehouse organ in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit,
St Francis' Theological College, Milton
[Photograph by Howard Baker (1990s)]

 

When the organ was installed in its present location, the Great Principal 4ft was transferred to the Swell, and the Swell Salicional 8ft was transferred to the Great, thus removing the original duplexing arrangement for the string stop between the two manuals.8 The resulting specification is as follows:

GREAT
Open Diapason
Salicional
Flute

SWELL
Stopped Diapason
Principal
Oboe

PEDAL
Bourdon

COUPLERS
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Swell Super to Great

8
8
4


8
4
8


16








[formerly on Swell]




[formerly on Great]










Tremulant
Detached stop-key console
Radiating concave pedalboard
Balanced swell pedal
Electro-pneumatic action
Compass: not recorded.9


________________________________________________________________________

1 Queensland Heritage Council, Queensland Heritage Register, location 600254.

2 Queensland Heritage Council, Queensland Heritage Register, location 600255.

3 Personal Communication to G. Cox from Kevin M. Whitehouse, June 1974.

4 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-1940), p. 437.

5 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1922-1940), p. 484.

6 Whitehouse Bros Ledger (1940-1954), p. 294.

7 Collected Specifications of Bernie Brohan (c.1952).

8 Personal Communication to G. Cox from Kevin M. Whitehouse, June 1974.

9 Specification noted by G. Cox, May 1974.