St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – exterior
(photograph by John Maidment [February 2022])
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, February 2022
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – exterior
(photograph by John Maidment [February 2022])
Historical and Technical Documentation by John Maidment
© OHTA, February 2022
The earliest church services took place in the area in 1849 and the parish was granted 1½ acres of land in 1857 for the erection of a church and vicarage. A small wooden school building was opened in 1855 and the foundation stone of the present church laid in 1857. The building was opened in 1859 and consecrated in 1862, the cost amounting to £2,700. The architects were Knight & Kerr whose magnum opus was the Houses of Parliament, Melbourne. In 1885, the church was enlarged through the addition of the south transept, apsidal chancel and organ chamber (designed by Barford & Braim) and the north transept was added in 1891. In 1954, the war memorial tower was added to the design of Louis R. Williams.1
The interior incorporates carved wooden screens and a wide range of excellent stained glass, by local makers Ferguson & Urie, William Montgomery, Mathieson & Gibson and Brooks, Robinson.2
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – interior 1885 showing the Speechly & Ingram organ placed in the nave
(photograph from St Thomas’ Church archives [10 February 2022])
The first organ, built in 1874 by Speechly & Ingram, London, previously in the Athenaeum Hall, Melbourne and St Andrew’s Schoolroom, Brighton, was installed here in 1879. It occupied three positions in the church: first, on the left hand side of the nave, then in the right transept and finally in the organ chamber. It was moved in 1922 to the Prince of Wales Park Methodist Church in Thornbury and is now at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Morwell.
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – the present organ
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
The present organ was built in 1923 by Geo. Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd and was the gift of William Stephen Kimpton.3 It was placed in an organ chamber to the south of the chancel.
The organ was dedicated on Sunday 27 May 1923 by the Vicar, Canon J.T. Baglin.4
A Great Clarinet was installed by C.W. Andrewartha during the years of World War 2; the pipes were made by William Potter and voiced by Andrewartha.5 This stop was removed during the restoration carried out by Geo.Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd in 1970. The provision of a tremulant was probably carried out by Andrewartha at the time.
The organ is significant for the following reasons:
• It is one of only three major Fincham organs from the interwar period to remain intact, the other two being at St John’s Catholic Church, Clifton Hill (1924), and St Patrick’s Catholic Cathedral, Ballarat (1930).
• The instrument displays a generosity of construction that is unusual at the time, this being due to the generous gift of W.S. Kimpton
• The provision of a drawstop console is very rare for a Fincham organ, most being constructed with more economical rocking stopkeys
• The tonal design of the organ, particularly the Swell Organ with its four ranks of upperwork, is unique in the work of the Fincham firm at the time
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – console
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
| GREAT Open Diapason Stop Diapason Dulciana Principal Clear Flute Fifteenth Trumpet Swell to Great |
8 8 8 4 4 2 8 |
||
| SWELL Bourdon Open Diapason Gedacht Viol d’Orchestre Voix Celeste Octave Twelfth Fifteenth Mixture 19.22 Horn Oboe Super Octave Swell |
16 8 8 8 8 4 2-2/3 2 II 8 8 |
TC TC |
|
| PEDAL Ped Open Diapason Ped Bourdon Ped Bass Flute Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal |
16 16 8 |
A A |
Compass: 61/30
Tubular-pneumatic action
Attached drawstop console
Balanced swell pedal
Tremulant by rocking tablet (to whole organ)
3 fixed thumb pistons to Great & Pedal
3 fixed thumb pistons to Swell
3 composition pedals to Great & Pedal
3 composition pedals to Swell6
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – left-hand stop jamb
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – right-hand stop jamb
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – Great pipework – Trumpet at the front
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – pneumatic key action behind the console
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – pneumatic piston action
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
St Thomas’ Anglican Church, Moonee Ponds – chancel with organ to the right
(photograph by John Maidment [10 February 2022])
1 Frank Shattock, St Thomas’ Church, Essendon: 125th anniversary of church building 1859-1984. Essendon: the church, 1984
2 https://fergusonandurie.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/29-01-1879-st-thomass-anglican-church-moonee-ponds-melbourne-victoria/, accessed 23 January 2022
3 J. Ann Hone, 'Kimpton, William Stephen (1832–1926)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/kimpton-william-stephen-3951/text6227, published first in hardcopy 1974, accessed 23 January 2022
4 Weekly Times, 2 June 1923, p.6
5 Letter from Raymond Fehmel to Geo.Fincham & Sons, 6 December 1970, Fincham letter books (State Library of Victoria), p.294
6 Specification noted 1960 David Harmer (son of the Vicar), via John Maidment and updated February 2022 John Maidment