Private residence, Elwood
John Renton organ alongside Alexandre harmonium of 1865
[photograph by Simon Colvin (6 December 2018)]
Private residence, Elwood
John Renton organ alongside Alexandre harmonium of 1865
[photograph by Simon Colvin (6 December 2018)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, 2016 (last updated April 2023)
This small organ of three ranks was built for domestic use in the middle of the 19th century and marketed as a “cottage organ”. This is probably the "cottage chamber organ, by Prenton [sic = Renton], of Edinburgh" advertised in The Argus, 19 February 1856, p.2 that arrived in the colony shortly beforehand. The construction of the wooden pipes, with their turned stoppers and paper labels with printed inscriptions, are identifiably Renton's work. Sadly, the small maker's label has been removed. Renton actively marketed his “cottage organs” and an advertisement for them appeared in the Fifeshire Journal for 21 July 1864 – they were clearly a production line model. While the organ was in Melbourne from the mid-1850s, it was acquired in Melbourne in the mid-1960s and was restored by the previous owner. It was moved to its present location in Elwood in 2018.
The mahogany casework is in the form of an upright piano, with satinwood used for the console surrounds. There are scrolled keycheeks and the keys have boxwood fronts. The gilded dummy pipes are placed within Gothic openings.
The restoration work included reconstruction of the iron blowing pedal (which had been replaced by hinged treadles), tuning slides for the Principal 4, installation of a new Fifteenth 2 where a Keraulophon 8 had once been placed, gilding of the wooden dummy façade pipes and the making of a new pleated silk panel.
| MANUAL [Stopped Diapason bass 8] [Stopped Diapason treble 8] [Principal 4 bass] [Principal 4 treble] [Fifteenth 2] |
19 pipes C-f# 49 pipes from G 12 pipes G-f# 49 pipes from G 37 pipes from g |
Compass: 56 notes
Horizontal brass wind indicator
Hand and foot blowing
Private residence, Elwood: Stopped Diapason pipes
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]
Private residence, Elwood: metal pipework
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]
Private residence, Elwood: action and reservoir
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]
Private residence, Elwood: console detail
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]
Private residence, Elwood: printed note markings on Stopped Diapason pipes
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]
Private residence, Elwood: feeders
[photograph by John Maidment (26 March 2007)]