St George's Anglican Church
Orleana Square, Gawler

First organ, barrel organ, B 1853 J.W. Walker, London; inst S. Marshall. Present loc unknown.
Second organ, now in residence of B. Cool, Canberra
Present organ, B 1888 W.G. Vowles, Bristol for St Matthias', Broadweir, Bristol;
subsequently moved to St Jude's, Bristol; overhauled Rushworth & Dreaper 1970.
Imported and installed 1986 E. Strange.
2 manuals, 18 speaking stops, 4 couplers, tracker & tubular pneumatic





From the 1991 OHTA Conference handbook:

The first Church of St George was consecrated on Tuesday March 21st 1848 [1]. Five years later a barrel organ built by JW Walker of London was opened on 24th July, 1853. Its cost, including shipping expenses from London, was £122.17.4 added to which was an amount of £6 to Mr Duffield for its carriage from Adelaide and £11 to Mr Marshall for erecting and tuning the organ. [2]

The present building was begun in 1858. In 1876 a bequest of £50 was received from the estate of Mrs Isabella King and it became the nucleus of a fund for purchasing a new pipe organ [3].

This second instrument was made by JW Wolff at a cost of £350 and was opened on Sunday December 16th 1877, with a recital by Mr Landergan, organist of Christ Church, North Adelaide [4]. With casework and tonal design similar to St Luke's Whitmore Square, it served the church until 1962 when a programme of rebuilding was undertaken over a numbder of years by Edgar Bowes. In 1987 it was purchased by Bruce Cool for his Rostrevor Residence and in 1990 transferred to Canberra.

The present organ was built by WG Vowles of Bristol in 1878, for the Church of St Mathias On-the-Weir, and was transferred to St Jude's Church, Lawford Gate, Bristol, circa 1946. Eric Strange, organist of St George's, knew this instrument to be redundant and proposed its purchase. The organ arrived in Gawler on July 16th, 1984 and the opening recital was given on October 12th by David Merchant, organist of Pilgrim Church [5].




The specification is:

Great
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason
Dulciana
Principal
Flute
Twelfth
Fifteenth
Clarionet

Swell
Double Diapason
Open Diapason
Gamba TC
Lieblich Gedacht
Principal
Fifteenth
Cornopean
Hautboy

Pedal
Open Diapason
Bourdon

8
8
8
4
4
2-2/3
2
8


16
8
8
8
4
2
8
8


16
16



Above photo taken in 1968 (TB)

Photos: Trevor Bunning (Jan 1994)


[1] South Australian Gazette & Mining Journal, 25/3/1848 3.2
[2] Adelaide Times 22/7/1853 1.6 advt.; South Australian Register 22/8/1954 1.6
[3] Best S., A Brief History of the Parish of Gawler 1846-1921
[4] Bunyip 21/12/1877 3.1
[5] Notes provided E Strange, 12th May 1990