Appeal to restore historic organ
Members of St Peter’s Lutheran Church in Stawell have launched an appeal for financial help to restore the church’s historic Hill and Son chamber organ.
The project requires $95,000 for the restoration.
Member for Ripon Louise Staley and Northern Grampians Shire mayor Tony Driscoll are copatrons for the organ restoration and spoke at an appeal launch at the Scallan Street church on Monday.
Appeal committee chairwoman Karen Jenkins has written a brief history about, and description of, the iconic pipe organ. Here is her description – Of international significance, the chamber organ was the first Hill and Son organ built for Australia.
It was constructed in 1858 for Mr Peter Davis of Melbourne, and the original order states that it was to be built without regards to the cost.
The organ was duly constructed about and shipped to Victoria in a tin container at a cost of £340 and installed in Mr Davis’s home in the inner suburb of Gardiner.
When Mr Davis relocated to Europe he sold the organ, which was later placed in the original St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Brighton before it was moved to Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, Gippsland.
When Stawell pharmacist Mr John Kriewaldt successfully tendered for the chamber organ in 1968, little did he know what a treasure he was inheriting.
With the help of Mr Alf Rudolph, Mr Kriewaldt dismantled the organ and brought it to Stawell, loaded into a ute and tandem trailer.
Mr Kriewaldt and church members then rebuilt the organ and installed it in St Peter’s Lutheran Church in Stawell in November 1969, as a gift to the church.
Shortly after the chamber organ’s installation, it was confirmed it was an historic instru- ment built by esteemed English firm W. Hill and Son.
The organ has an attractive and notable solid Spanish mahogany neo-classical case with egg and dart moulding.
All of the original mechanism key, stop and combination actions and pipework is present and it retains its original sound.
Its historical significance has been recognised on the Victorian Heritage Register as the earliest substantial chamber organ in Victoria to survive, as the oldest extant Hill and Son organ in Australia, and as an extremely rare, if not unique, example in the world of a Hill and Son chamber organ of the period.
The firm of Hill and Son represents the high point of nineteenth century English organ building, including instruments it built for cathedrals at Chester, Ely, Lichfield, Peterborough, Worcester and York, as well as Westminster Abbey, Eton College and King’s and Trinity colleges at Cambridge.
The company also built organs for the Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney town halls.
The organ has been the subject of several reports in organ publications, has been a drawcard in the Organs of the Goldfields Festival, featured in recitals and is made available for playing by qualified organists and viewing by interested persons.
However, the organ is now in need of a full restoration to ensure that its integrity is maintained and it is preserved for future generations to play and enjoy.
The church community has undertaken the substantial task of raising money under Organ Historical Trust of Australia for the organ’s restoration by the organbuilding firm Australian Pipe Organs.
• Further information on the organ or the appeal is available from Mrs Jenkins on 5358 3066 or secretary John Simpkin on 5358 4035.