St Matthew's Anglican Church
Bathurst Street, New Norfolk
B. 1914- G.F. Hopkins & completed 1921 Geo. Fincham & Sons.
Enl. 1948 Geo. Fincham & Sons (addtn. of swell & pedal Violon 16).
2m., 17 sp.st., 5c., tub.pn. Gt: 8.8.8.4.4.2-2/3.2. Sw: 16.8.8.8.8.4.8. Ped: 16.16.8
Reb. 1996 Gibbs & Thomson. 1m., 10 sp.st., 1c, el.mag. & el.pn.
Man: 8.8.8.4.2.II.8. Ped: 16.16.8.
From Clarke and Johnson's Pipe Organs of Tasmania (Revised) pub Hobart Guild of Organists 1981 p 83:
This historic Church had it beginning in 1825, but almost a century elapsed before it housed
a pipe organ.
Work on the construction of an organ for St Matthew's began in 1914. Mr G.F. Hopkins, organist of St John's Church of England, Launceston, commenced the task. But he was unable to complete the contract and the work was taken over by George Fincham & Son of Melbourne who completed the organ and installed it in 1921.
The instrument was rebuilt in 1948 by George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd, of Melbourne with a second manual being added by K.R. Davis, who worked with Fincham. The Open Diapason
of wood came from the Grand Exhibition organ built by Flncham for the 1880-81 Melbourne Exhibition.
By 1990 the organ was scarcely in working condition. The parish found itself unable to finance the re-bullding of the organ as a two-manual instrument and after lengthy discussion
it was decided to remake it as a one-manual instrument, using only older pipework, and leaving the option open for the reinstatement of a two-manual instrument at a later date.
The work was done by Gibbs & Thomson. The new instrument has a slider chest activated by lever-arm magnets and unit chests for the pedals. The former Swell soundboard was used
for the manual division as it had a slide of sufficient size to accommodate the Swell Horn. One keyboard was removed and the number of stop knobs reduced.
When the organ was dismantled in March 1996 examination of the instrument showed that
much damage had been done to the upperwork of the older ranks of Principal and Fifteenth. Thirty replacement pipes had been substituted for damaged or missing pipes, but these were
of wrong scale and of different pipe metal from the originals. These were replaced with new
pipes that matched the original in structure and pipe metal. The wind pressure was changed
to that of the original, as far as could be ascertained.
The 1921 specification:
| Great Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Dulciana Principal Hohl Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Pedal Bourdon Bass Flute |
8 8 8 4 4 2-2/3 2 16 8 |
Action: tubular pneumatic
The 1948 specification:
| Great Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Dulciana Principal Harmonic Flute Twelfth Fifteenth Swell Double Stopped Diapason Violin Diapason Hohl Flute Viol di Gamba Voix Celestes Gemshorn Horn Pedal Open Diapason Bordun Bass Flute |
|
wood |
Action: tubular pneumatic
The 1995 specification:
| Manual Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Viol di Gamba Principal Fifteenth Mixture Horn Pedal Bourdon Flute Violone Manual to Pedal |
8 8 8 4 2 II 8 16 8 16 |
C19 pipework, Fincham C19 pipework from Swell, Fincham 1948 C19 pipework from Great new from Swell Fincham 1921 Fincham 1921 Fincham 1880 |
Action: Direct electric (manual), Electro-pneumatic (pedal, stops)
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Photos: Trevor Bunning (Dec 2008)