'Collingrove' homestead – exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
'Collingrove' homestead – interior
[photographs by Simon Colvin (October 2019)]
'Collingrove' homestead – exterior
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
'Collingrove' homestead – interior
[photographs by Simon Colvin (October 2019)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2019 (last updated October 2019)
The house is considered to have been designed by Henry Evans, formerly of Exeter, who arrived in South Australia in 1843. It was built for John Howard Angas in 1854.1 It was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Ronald Angas. It is built from local stone with a slate roof, and designed in a classical idiom with sweeping verandahs and bay windows and set in landscaped grounds. The property is now owned by the National Trust of Australia (South Australia) and is open for public inspection.
'Collingrove' homestead – J.W. Wolff organ
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
'J.W. Wolff organ with glass doors open
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
'J.W Wolff organ – detail of keyboard, stops and carved fretwork
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
The J.W. Wolff chamber organ is believed to have been built in 1867, and awarded a gold medal at the Grand Exhibition of that year.2 Following private ownership, including the noted artist Pro Hart, it was acquired by OHTA through a public appeal. It has received a comprehensive restoration by George Stephens, completed in 2019, funded by OHTA and the Friends of the Hill & Son Grand Organ. The work has included reconstruction of the building frame, wind system and foot treddles, restoration of the cedar casework, glass doors and carved fretwork, windchest, key and stop action, and careful work on the wooden pipework, much of it trimmed down to compensate for the erratic wind pressures delivered previously from the decayed windchest. All the pipework is of wood and shows great ingenuity in its construction; the pipes are plugged into the upperboards.
J.W. Wolff organ - pipework
[photograph by Trevor Bunning (October 2019)]
J.W.Wolff organ – soundboard, stop action and bellows
[photograph by Simon Colvin (October 2019)]
| MANUAL [Stopped Bass] [Open Diapason] [Stopped Diapason] [Gemshorn] [Fifteenth] |
(unlabelled stopknobs) 8 CC-BB 8 TC 8 TC 4 tapered 2 TC |
compass: 54 notes
blowing by foot treddles3
During the 2019 conference visit on Thursday 3 October, we were delighted to welcome Diane Wolff, a great-granddaughter of J.W. Wolff, who spoke briefly.
'Collingrove' homestead – Diane Wolff with her great-grandfather's organ
[photograph by Simon Colvin (October 2019)]
1 S.H. Gilbert, 'Collingrove', in Historic Homesteads of Australia (North Melbourne: Cassell Australia, 1969), pp.206-213.
2 South Australian Weekly Chronicle (9 November 1867), p.1.
3 Specification noted by Steve Kaesler, 2019.