St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle: exterior
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (11 April 2012)]
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle: exterior
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (11 April 2012)]
Historical and Technical Documentation by Patrick Elms and Colin van der Lecq
© OHTA 2012 (last updated May 2012)
The church was built in 1879-82 to the design of London architect William Smith. Built of local limestone this spacious and lofty building with superb Jarrah ceiling contains many fine fittings such as the stone pulpit and font, carved Jarrah high altar and stone reredos incorporating three optus sectile mosaic panels.
The stained glass windows are of outstanding quality, including the work of Franz Mayer and Co, Munich, (east window) and A.L. Moore and Co, London (seven lancet windows at the west end depicting the seven acts of mercy).1
The first organ was built in 1875-79 by local Robert Cecil Clifton (1854-1931), a Clerk in the Lands Department of the W.A. Government, an amateur builder.2 It was of two manuals and pedal, nine stops. It was later relocated by Clifton to St Matthews Anglican Church, Guildford (1884) and then to St Aidan's Church, Claremont (1912) by J.E. Dodd, where it is still in use today.
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle: the second Clifton organ
[Photograph from Leon D. Cohen, Gathered Fragments]
The second organ was also built by Clifton, using metal pipework supplied by Hill & Son, London, and wooden pipework of his own manufacture. The contract was signed on 31 October 1882 and the organ opened on 15 May 1884. This was his third and largest instrument.
| GREAT Lieblich Gedacht Open Diapason Stopped Diapason & Melodia Dulciana Principal Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Swell to Great SWELL Lieblich Gedacht Gamba Geigen Principal Flute Gemshorn Hautboy PEDAL Open Diapason Bourdon Posaune Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
16 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 8 4 4 2 8 16 16 8 |
Compass: 56/293
Mechanical action, 3 composition pedals to Great Organ
The organ was rebuilt, enlarged and electrified in 1961 by Paul F. Hufner, Inglewood, to the design of the organist Roy Wood. New electric chests were provided and the whole organ, apart from the Great Diapason chorus, placed in a large swell box.4
| GREAT Bourdon Open Diapason I Open Diapason II Claribel Dulciana Principal Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Trumpet Swell to Great Sub Swell to Great Swell to Great Octave SWELL Geigen Diapason Gedeckt Gamba Celeste Geigen Principal Lieblich Flute Twelfth Gemshorn Tierce Larigot Octavin Contra Oboe Trumpet Oboe Clarion Swell Sub Swell Octave PEDAL Open Wood Bourdon Lieblich Bourdon Principal Bass Flute Gamba Fifteenth Contra Oboe Trumpet Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
16 8 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 1-3/5 1-1/3 1 16 8 8 4 16 16 16 8 8 8 4 16 8 |
A * B * C * * D * * * * E * F G * H * F * G F * G G H I E I * E * * A B C H D I E |
Compass: 61/305
* Denotes 1884 stop
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle: organ
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (March 2009)]
The organ was rebuilt and enlarged in 1990 by Bellsham Pipe Organs (Australia) Pty Ltd to three manuals using the original Clifton Great and Pedal windchests obtained from Paul Hufner, however the Swell chest was destroyed in a workshop fire and thus replaced. The original Clifton Great and Pedal pipework was reinstalled on the Clifton chests. although the Pedal slider chest was converted to unit operation at this time.
The project was unfinished at the demise of Bellsham Pipe Organs in 1993 and the work was completed by Pipe Organ Builders and Services (POBS) in 1996. This work included extensive pipe regulation and resetting of speech by George Stephens of Adelaide, in the POBS factory.6
The Choir Posaune 8 was replaced by a new set of pipes in 2004.
The Great Claribel was rescaled in 2010 with the provision of 37 new wooden pipes by Pipe Organs W.A., based on Clifton's scaling in his work diary of 1882.
| GREAT Lieblich Gedackt * Open Diapason Claribel Dulciana Principal Harmonic Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Posaune Swell to Great Choir to Great SWELL Geigen Diapason Lieblich Gedackt Gamba Viole Celeste Geigen Principal Wald Flute Gemshorn Mixture Fagotto Cornopean Oboe Clarion Tremulant Swell Sub Octave Swell Unison Off Swell Octave CHOIR (unenclosed) Gedackt Octave Rohr Flute Nazard Piccolo Tierce Quintlein Posaune Tremulant Swell to Choir PEDAL Open Wood Bourdon Principal Bass Flute Fifteenth Fagotto Posaune Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Choir to Pedal |
16 8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 8 8 8 8 8 4 4 2 III-IV 16 8 8 4 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 1-3/5 1-1/3 8 16 16 8 8 4 16 8 |
* * * * * * * * A H * * H * * * B C * C D E D D D D E A * F * G F G B A |
Compass: 61/307
* Denotes 1884 stop
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle: console
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (March 2009)]
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle : left-hand stop jamb
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (March 2009)]
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle : right-hand stop jamb
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (March 2009)]
St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle : interior looking east – organ to the left
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (March 2009)]
1 Website http://www.oswa.org.au/WAOrgans/FremantleStJohn.html accessed 19 February 2012.
2 Leon D. Cohen, Gathered Fragments: The biography of Robert Cecil Clifton (Charta Duplicating and Binding Service, 1979) p 32.
3 Notes of J.R. Elms 1969.
4 Conversations with Paul Hufner took place between 1983 and 2010. Conversation with John Larner occurred on 24 November 2011.
5 Specification and disposition of organ from notes of J.R. Elms, 1969, and from 1961 console stop rail, in the possession of Patrick Elms.
6 Patrick Elms worked for POBS at the time this project was completed.
7 Website http://www.oswa.org.au/WAOrgans/FremantleStJohn.html accessed 17 February 2012 and corrections from Graham Devenish, organist at St John's.