Newcastle Regional Museum: organ case
[photograph by John Maidment (3 October 2015)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Kelvin Hastie
© OHTA, 2015 (last updated September 2015)
Newcastle Regional Museum: organ case
[photograph by John Maidment (3 October 2015)]
The Newcastle Regional Museum is located in the vast former railway workshops near the harbour, now converted to rehouse a spectacular collection of artefacts of artistic and scientific interest from the region's past. In 2011 Peter D.G. Jewkes Pty. Ltd. installed a small three-manual organ, formerly at St Augustine's Anglican Church, Merewether. It was originally built in the late-19th century and installed at 'Standish', the private residence of John St Vincent Welsh (1847-1918) of Lane Cove, Sydney. Graeme Rushworth records that it was installed at Merewether by Alex. J. Hunter in 1924.1
'Standish', Wollstonecraft
[photograph from Pastor de Lasala (date unknown)]
With its distinctive oak case and tin façade pipes, the organ now makes an imposing sight in a dedicated hall between two of the galleries, shared only by a steam locomotive and a large Italian mural depicting the city's industrial heart in years gone by. The hall has favourable acoustics and generous seating space has been provided for concerts and functions.
In 1964 S.I. Sakacs of Melbourne carried out some alterations to the organ while it was at Merewether, including the removal of the original bellows and the transposition of the Swell Voix Celeste to 2ft pitch. While the Jewkes firm did not carry out a restoration of the organ during its recent transfer to the Museum, the unstable 1964 wind regulator was replaced with a traditional double-rise bellows, made to the similar dimensions as the original, as indicated by structural evidence inside the instrument. A new silent blower was also provided and all pipework was cleaned and regulated. The front pipes (one of only a handful of 19th-century tin façades in Australia) were re-burnished in Melbourne by Tim Gilley, thereby restoring the instrument's original striking appearance.
Much has been attempted by historians over the years to establish the provenance of this unusual instrument to no avail, and no further evidence was uncovered during its latest move. Clearly it is of high-quality English construction, with almost all of the pipework made by William Davidson of Sydney - possibly as a result of his association with John St Vincent Welsh, who was a Warden of St Thomas', North Sydney, during the time the Davidson organ was being built there. Several authors have attempted to provide a history of the organ, most notably Richard Baker in the months before his death in 2006: much, however, is still open to speculation.2
Newcastle Regional Museum: console
[photograph by John Maidment (3 October 2015)]
Below are details of its specification, as recorded by John Stiller in 1981 – first as it was at Lane Cove and as it was noted in its altered state at Merewether.3
| Original Specification | Present Specification |
|||||
| GREAT Open Diapason Stop Diapason Dulciana Principal SWELL Bourdon Gamba Hohl Flute Voix Celeste Oboe CHOIR Wald Flute Salicional Lieblich Flute Clarionet PEDAL Double Diapason Bass Flute COUPLERS Swell to Great Swell to Choir Choir to Great Swell Octave Swell Sub Octave Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 16 8 8 8 8 8 8 4 8 16 8 |
transferred to Swell transferred to Choir transferred to Swell transferred to Great [lost rank] transferred to Great as Viola 8 |
GREAT Open Diapason Hohl Flute Viola Harmonic Flute SWELL Bourdon Violin Diapason Stop Diapason Principal Fifteenth Oboe CHOIR Wald Flute Dulciana Lieblich Flute Clarionet1 PEDAL Double Diapason Bass Flute COUPLERS Swell to Great Swell to Choir Choir to Great Swell Octave Swell Sub Octave Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal |
8ft 8ft 8ft 4ft 16ft tone 8ft 8ft 4ft 2ft 8ft 8ft 8ft 4ft tone 18ft 16ft tone 8ft tone |
new and transposed pipework * ex Swell ex Choir (C – B from Hohl Flute) new pipework * original Gamba renamed ex Great ex Great Voix Celeste transposed - new tin pipes top 2 octaves original original ex Great (C – B from Wald Flute) original original (from c0) original original |
|
Tremulant (not original)
Mechanical action throughout
Compass 61/30
5 composition pedals
Hitch-down swell pedal
Pitch a1= 440 Hz at 19o C
Wind pressure = 3 inches (78 mm)
*Pipework probably by Fincham, date unknown
1. Graeme D. Rushworth, Historic Organs of New South Wales. Sydney: Hale & Iremonger, 1988, p.118.
2. Peter Jewkes 'Off the Chest – News from the Organbuilders – Newcastle Museum', Sydney Organ Journal, 42/4 (Spring 2011): p.43. Further information on the history of the organ when at Merewether was written by Richard Baker and published in Plenum (Journal of the Hunter District Organ Music Society), vol. 28, no 2 (2006).
3. Specifications from John Stiller, St Augustine's Anglican Church, Merewether - Documentation of Pipe Organ installed in 1924. Organ Historical Trust of Australia, 1981.
Newcastle Regional Museum: backfalls, reservoir and Choir lateral action
[photograph by John Maidment (3 October 2015)]
Newcastle Regional Museum: Choir pipework
[photograph by John Maidment (3 October 2015)]
Newcastle Regional Museum: drawstop engraving detail
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (3 October 2015)]
The organ in
St Augustine's Anglican Church, Merewether
[photograph by Pastor de Lasala (2006)]