Organ

 

The eight-stop, single manual pipe organ in Christ Church is the work of colonial builder William Anderson. It was made in Melbourne in Anderson's Little Flinders Street workshop and first placed in St George's Catholic Church in Carlton in 1882. In 1886, when Reverend George Cross was rector of Christ Church, the instrument became available for purchase and it was installed in Christ Church in January 1887, getting 'a great bargain', as The Ovens and Murray Advertiser described it:

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'...We may state that it is a first class instrument of eight stops possessing powerful volume and sweetness and beauty of tone, is eight feet square and fifteen feet in height. The congregation may well be congratulated on the acquisition of so fine an instrument which is pronounced by musical experts and others who have had an opportunity of hearing it, to be one of the best church organs, for its size, in any part of the colony.'

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The mechanical action organ is one of Anderson's few surviving instruments to remain largely unaltered. A major refurbishment took place in 2008, when it was found to contain many older parts, including pipework from before 1850. Pages from an 1854 Melbourne newspaper were also discovered at this time lining one of the larger wooden pipes.

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Specification

Manual

Open Diapason 8 wood base
Stopped Diapason Bass 8 C-Ten.F#
Stopped Diapason Treble 8 Ten.G
Dulciana 8
Principal 4
Flute 4
Twelfth 2-2/3
Fifteenth 2
Great to pedal coupler
 

Pedal

Bourdon 16

 

Compass: 58/30
Attached draw-knob console
Three composition pedals
Mechanical action

 

See the Organ Historical Trust of Australia for more information about the organ and the other Anderson organ in Beechworth Town Hall.

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Music director and organist
Sandra Williams

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