Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Hume Street, Toowoomba

Charles Dirksen Organ Co, Brisbane, 1957
Restored 1982 Walter Emerson, Toowoomba
Installed in renovated building 1997 W.J. Simon Pierce, Brisbane
2 manuals, 2 ranks extended, electric action




Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Toowoomba
[Photograph by Trevor Bunning (November 2011)]

 

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2012 (last updated June 2012)

This organ was built in 1957 by the Charles Dirksen Organ Co. of Brisbane, and installed in time for the opening of the building on 23 June that year.1



[Photograph by David Vann (June 2012)]

Charles Dirksen, a Dutchman, had trained with the firm of L. Verschueren, Heythuysen, Netherlands, before migrating to Australia. He spent two years in Adelaide before moving to Brisbane in 1956 for his honeymoon. Deciding to stay in Brisbane, he set up his own business there, but returned to Holland around 1963 after a period of ill health. A specialist in pipe-making, Dirksen made his own metal and wooden pipes in Brisbane. Around 1957, he secured a contract to build small extension organs for some 14 Mormon churches around the country.2

Most of these, including the one for Toowoomba, were of two ranks. The other two-rank instruments in Queensland were at the Mormon chapel, Camp Hill (1957) and the Mormon Chapel, Chermside (1958). Alongside the Toowoomba instrument, the only other two-rank Dirksen to survive in its original location is at the Mormon Chapel, North Parramatta.

Four-rank extension instruments were supplied in Queensland for St Luke's Anglican Church, Ekibin (1957), the Mormon Chapel, Kangaroo Point (1958), the Presbyterian Church, Wynnum (1960), and Emmanuel College, St Lucia (1961). All four have survived in their original locations.







The 1957 Charles Dirksen organ
at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Toowoomba
[Photographs by David Vann (June 2012)]

The Toowoomba instrument was completely re-wired and all the electrical components were replaced in 1982 by Walter Emerson of Toowoomba.3 In 1997 it was installed in the renovated building by W.J. Simon Pierce of Brisbane, who again provided new wiring as well as a new swell-pedal mechanism.4

The pipework is entirely enclosed, apart from the bottom octave of the Principal rank and the lowest 14 Bourdon pipes, which are arranged on either side of the organ.

GREAT
Bourdon
Violin Diapason
Stop Diapason
Principal
Flute
Twelfth
Fifteenth
Piccolo

SWELL
Bourdon
Violin Diapason
Stop Diapason
Principal
Flute
Nasard
Fifteenth
Piccolo

PEDAL
Bourdon
Violin Diapason
Stopped Flute
Quint
Principal
Flute

16
8
8
4
4
2-2/3
2
1


16
8
8
4
4
2-2/3
2
1


16
8
8
5-1/3
4
4

A
B
A
B
A
B
B
B


A
B
A
B
A
A
B
B


A
B
A
A
B
A
  

NO COUPLERS

Tremulant
Compass: [61/32?]
Direct electric action
Detached stop-key console
Balanced swell pedal.5













Console and console details of the 1957 Charles Dirksen organ
[Photographs by David Vann (June 2012)]

_____________________________________________________________________

1 Date supplied by Clifford F. Cameron (President of the Australia East Mission) from church records, February 1974.

2 Personal communication to G. Cox from John Spall, an employee of Dirksen in Brisbane, 1973.

3 Personal communication to G. Cox from Leslie W. Rubb, March 1987.

4 W.J. Simon Pierce Newsletter (Winter 1997).

5 Specification noted by Geoffrey Cox, February 1974.