Uniting (formerly Methodist) Church
cnr. Semaphore Road and Young Street, Semaphore

B 1882 P.C. Conacher & Co, Huddersfield, UK for 'Rippon Lea',
residence of Sir Frederick Sargood, Elsternwick, Victoria (job no 596);
installed present location 1903 J.E. Dodd.
3 manuals, 19 speaking stops, 5 couplers, tracker action



Photo: Trevor Bunning (1986)



From 1986 OHTA Conference booklet.

Semaphore became the residential area for those with interests in shipping. The Methodist church erected in 1867 was the only one of the Peninsula and grew quite large.

The organ was built in 1882 by P.C. Conacher & Co of Huddersfield (job no 596) for 'Rippon Lea', the residence of Sir Frederick Sargood, Elsternwick, Victoria where it was first located at the western end of the dining room and later in the Victorian ballroom (demolished in the 1930s). The arch above the console between the two sections of the case contained a mirror when in the ballroom but earlier the two halves of the organ flanked a window above the console. The width of the organ (18ft 6 in) exactly corresponds with the width of the dining room.



The Conacher organ at the western end of the dining room at Rippon Lea,
before relocation to the ballroom (Richard Heathcote, Rippon Lea).

It was purchased from his estate in 1903 at a cost of £275 with cartage & re-erection by J E Dodd costing a further £254. An electric blower was installed in 1929. The organ was unveiled in 1903 by Mrs J Dunn as a memorial to Mr J Burton and Mr G Shorney. [1]




Photo: Trevor Bunning (1986)



The specification is:

Great
Lieblich Bourdon
Open Diapason
Stop'd Diapason
Pierced Gamba
Principal
Harmonic Piccolo
Swell to Great

Swell
Violin Diapason
Stop'd Diapason
Salcional
Voix Celeste
Gemshorn
Harmonic Flute
Hautbois

Choir
Dulciana
Violin
Flute a Chiminee
Stop'd Piccolo
Swell to Choir

Pedal
Bourdon
Flute
Great to Pedals
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedals

16
8
8
8
4
2



8
8
8
8
4
4
8


8
8
4
2



16
8
TC



























(Hill & Son label)


Compass 56/30
located east wall

Notable case in Italian Renaissance style


[1] Centenary of Methodism at Semaphore 1865-1965 (Adelaide)

 






















Photos: John Maidment (August 2011)