Grose Vale Chapel (Google Images)
Grose Vale Chapel (Google Images)
Historical and Technical Documentation by Pastor de Lasala
© OHTA 2008, 2014 (last updated January 2015)
The organ at St Peter's Anglican Church, Best Road, Seven Hills
[Photograph: Peter Jewkes 2006]
St Thérèse of the Child Jesus Catholic Church, Beauty Point
The organ at St Peter's Anglican Church, Seven Hills South was built in 1882 by J.W.Walker & Sons, London (job no.1162). It has one manual, three speaking stops, pedal pulldowns, and is mostly enclosed with mechanical action. It was restored in 1965 by Hill, Norman & Beard. The instrument is of compact dimensions and has an oak case and spotted metal pipework (cone-tuned). It was installed in St Peter's in 1979 after the closure of St Andrew's Anglican, Seven Hills where it had been prior. The organ is being offered for sale (2005) with offers around $30,000 being invited.
The organ was bought by the Assistant Priest of the Parishes of Sydney Harbour North, Fr Danai Penollar and was installed by Mark Fisher in the Beauty Point Catholic Church in December 2008.
The charming three stop instrument above was manufactured by J W Walker & Sons in 1882 for St Andrew's, Seven Hills, then re-sited to St Peter's, Seven Hills in 1979 at which time it also underwent some cleaning and renovation. In 2008 it was purchased by a private owner and re-sited at St Thérèse's, Beauty Point. In July 2014, the owner donated the instrument to the retreat centre at Grose Vale with its fine chapel designed in traditional style by Suttie Rofe architects and opened by Cardinal Pell in February 2014. The Jewkes firm was commissioned by the donor to re-site the organ in the liturgical west gallery and also to include a new much-needed silent blower.1
The organ in the chapel at Grose Vale
[Photographs: Rodney Ford 2014]
| Manual | |
| Open Diapason | 8 from GG, bass grooved |
| Stopped Diapason* | 8 CC - FF# - is grooved to the Open Diapason |
| Principal | 4 |
| Pedal | |
| Pulldowns | 20 notes |
*Crude label. Originally "Wald Flute Treble Stopped Bass" (cf St Stephen's, Newtown and St Philip's, Church Hill).
This nomenclature is according to Walker's order book entry. Basically, this stop is the same as the examples at Newtown and Church Hill.
compass: 56/20
trigger swell lever
1 Peter Jewkes, Sydney Organ Journal (Spring 2014) and Organ Australia (Summer 2014-15), pp. 34-35.
