St Francis Xavier Catholic Church
Great Western Highway, Bowenfels

B.V. Bossi 1928, rebuilt S.T. Noad 1965 (2/7 electro-pneumatic)

© PdL 2006

From the 1990 OHTA Conference booklet:

This unusual instrument was built by Balbiani Vegeezi Bossi of Milan, Italy. Originally built in 1928 for the Brigidine Convent Chapel at Randwick, the organ was a memorial to a nun who had been the music teacher and organist of the Convent. The organ was installed by Mons. Mario Pettorelli, a priest from Rome who was in Australia on a Vatican appointment at the time. The instrument was electrified in 1965 by S.T. Noad & Son who made little change to the organ; the most noticeable of these was the adoption of plastic stopkeys using anglicised nomenclature. In 1986 Allan Cargill of Lithgow, together with a number of assistants, installed the organ in its current location, carrying out minor refurbishments together with the fitting of a new rectifier and blower.

Photo: TB

The specification is:

Manual I Principal Bourdon Dolce Manual II Gamba Vox Celeste II Harmonic Flute Pedal Bourdon Couplers Manual I-II at 16, 8, and 4 Manual II 16 and 4 Manual I – Pedal Manual II – Pedal

8 8 8 8 8 4 16

Compass 61/30, each rank with an extra octave of pipes at the treble for coupler use.
Swell Pedal
Crescendo Pedal
Electro-pneumatic action.