St John's Ashfield

From SOJ Autumn 1998, Winter 1998, Spring 2006:

In 1870 William Davidson installed a one manual and pedal organ in the west gallery. St John's was enlarged in 1875 by the addition of transepts and a sanctuary. The organ was moved to the south transept in 1879 and was replaced with a larger instrument by Hill & Son in 1883. The Davidson organ went to St Bartholomew's, Pyrmont and in 1962, to St Luke's Church, Northmead. The Hill organ was constructed for the north transept of the church with two display fronts and the console built across the corner of the case.

The organ was rebuilt with electric action by R.A. and D.A Wiltshire in 1950. In 1975 it was again rebuilt by Anthony Welby who installed a new mechanical action. At some time the console was moved and is still detached, facing across the choir with the organ case behind the player's back. Currently the organ is in a poor state of repair and the swell shutters were removed some years ago.

From OHTA News October 2006, organbuilder John W Parker writes:

"Present day alterations to the chancel require the moving of the console to a postion not possible with mechancial action. It was decided that as the Hill pipework is virtually original and untouched, the tonal originality should be preserved, but operated through a new and reliable electric action. We will be providing a new moveable console, renewing the wind system to adequate proportions, relocating the blower unit, and installing a solid state relay to operate the soundboards and pedal ranks. Pipework will be cleaned and regulated to adhere as close as possible the original Hill tonal qualities. The Swell box - disassembled in past years, will be restored and reinstalled. Much of the pipework has been fitted with tuning slides which will be retained. Close attention will be given to some smaller ranks (Mixture and Fifteenth) that have suffered considerable damage as a result of cone tuning over the years, and deserve preservation after repair, with the benefit of slide tuning."

The specification is:

Great
Open Diapason
Stopped Diapason
Dulciana
Principal
Wald Flute
Fifteenth

Swell
Open Diapason
Lieblich Gedact
Celeste
Gamba
Principal
Flagelot
Mixture 17.19.22
Oboe
Spare slide

Pedal
Open Bass
Bourdon
Cello

Couplers
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal

8
8
8
4
4
2

8
8
8
8
4
2
III
8

16
16
8

+
*
+

^

# A

A

Compass 56/30
Mechanical action
Balanced swell pedal (not working)

+ added before 1950
* labelled "Pierced Gamba" before 1950
^ originally labelled "Flautina"
# added 1950

From SOJ Spring 2006:

THE DESTRUCTION OF DIVERSITY:
LOST SOUNDS - PART II

by DR KELVIN HASTIE

Changing fashion: attitudes to tracker organs. The noted American organ building firm, Nelson Barden & Associates, of Newton, Massachusetts, ran for many years an advertisement which read "fashion wears out more organs than playing ever will". How true this statement is! Most members of the organ community are aware that a wellmade tracker instrument will last for more than a century before a comprehensive restoration is required, and even when such work is carried out, most original non-perishable components can be re-used. This approach obviously provides the best value to churches and a rock-solid case for arguing the case for pipe organs in general.

Most members of the organ community are also aware that the English firm of Hill & Son built some of the finest-sounding and most durable organs exported to Australia in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Yet in 1950 it was considered both necessary and desirable to electrify the firm's job no. 1852, the 1883 instrument in St John's Anglican Church, Ashfield. While an unusual angled action layout, dictated by the organ's position in a transept corner, may well have been the source of mechanical problems, these did not prevent the organist of the day from writing in a London periodical that "the Hill organ served wonderfully for some sixty-five years" (Keith Noake, "Organs of St John's, Ashfield, Sydney", Musical Opinion, August 1951: 601-3). Attitudes thoroughly in keeping with the spirit of the day nonetheless dictated the removal of the Hill action, although the craftsmanship and tonal excellence of the original material (with cone tuning retained) was thankfully appreciated. The London article explains things further: ". . . at about 1945 I had become exasperated by the dreadful noise of the action, specially in the pedal department. The trackers, &c., rattled and the pallets having hardened to a rock-like texture, banged and clattered until a pedal solo, no matter how careful one was, sounded like pedals with a battery of castanets. The manual action was also heavy and the reservoir in need of attention. Its tone, though, was still as beautiful as ever and a sight of the pipes was enough to make one thank the good Lord for craftsmanship of such a high order. The amazing reed was still very good in the middle but, of course, very asthmatic in the lowest octave. Now a parish which has had a very lovely-toned organ for sixty-five years and has no conception of the cost of such things has to be wooed gently when asked for over £1,000. Accordingly, with the permission of the Rector, an "Organ Improvement Fund" was commenced and gradually augmented by various means until it had grown to reasonable proportions. During this time I had made enquiries with various firms and had, incidentally, abandoned most of the somewhat grandiose schemes I had dreamed up. It became obvious that all that could be achieved would be complete electrification, console detachment, addition of couplers and controls and insertion of the much-needed pedal diapason."

The work was carried out by R. A. and D. A. Wiltshire, of Sydney, who were described in the article as being a "young and very enterprising and practical-minded firm." As far as can be determined, the firm only ever completed about four projects, all carried out around 1950, with none surviving today. During the work the console was placed away from the organ, being fitted with luminescent stop tabs, together with pistons for full swell, full great and full organ, as well as two preset pistons per division. There were two toe pistons for the pedal and a great-pedal reverser. Nine couplers were provided, including a pedal octave and an unusual pedal 10-2/3' coupler, supposedly to allow acoustic 32' effects in the bottom octave. The original Hill bellows was removed and a "pressure equaliser" with a compartment for each division replaced it, although how this operated is not described. The wind pressure for the manuals was kept at the usual Hill 3", but the pedal Cello (renamed Principal) was made to speak on 6".

Of great interest is the attitude to the diapered façade pipes. Keith Noake's article claims "there had been what had been described as a linoleum pattern on them over the years and, of course, something had to be done, as the design, like many Victorian schemes, wandered all over the pipes without much rhyme or reason; fleurs-de-lys in profusion, dots, bands, triangles in all the colours of the rainbow rioted in confusion. The Rector and a small committee and I consulted with the builders and eventually had the pipes sprayed in dull gold with glossy mouths. . ."

In spite of the organist's enthusiasm over the success of the organ as it stood in 1950, the action did not prove a success and in 1973 Sydney builder Anthony Welby was engaged to rebuild the instrument again, this time with mechanical action to the manuals, but retaining electric action for the stops and pedals. The 1950 console cabinet was discarded and a new detached console was supplied, facing across the choir with the organ case behind the player's back. In 1998 the Organ Music Society visited the church as part of an organ ramble, the notes for which (see SOJ Winter 1998) stated that "currently the organ is in a poor state of repair and the swell shutters were removed some years ago".

The action installed in 1973 did not prove a success and its retention was advised against by those with whom the church recently consulted. So yet another rebuild is to occur, this time by John W. Parker, of Sydney. Funds regrettably do not allow for the reconstruction of a Hill design (as has proved immensely successful at nearby St Luke's Concord), which would re-instate a Hill-style console, action and wind supply. Rather, all that can be afforded is a simple electrification using pulldown lever magnets, controlled by a recycled electricaction console. All surviving Hill components will, however, be scrupulously preserved.

The lesson from all of this is simple: had the church opted to clean and overhaul the organ in 1950, the Hill action would have survived, doubtless only later requiring a single full-scale restoration, as has so successfully been carried out elsewhere in Sydney and country New South Wales.