Pipe Organs in WA
 
 
 
 
 

St. Margaret's Anglican Church, Nedlands
The pipe organs of Western Australia



Nedlands St Margaret

Nedlands St Margaret

Nedlands St Margaret

Nedlands St Margaret

Nedlands St Margaret

Nedlands St Margaret


Property
Name of institution   St. Margaret's Anglican Church
Type of institution0   Church
Street Address   58 Tyrell Street
City   Nedlands
State   Western Australia
Postcode   6009
Country   Australia
Name of building   St. Margaret's Anglican Church
Name of room   Church sanctuary
Dates of the building   1937
Register of Heritage Places   Registered 16 May 2014
Heritage Place number   01830
Architect   William Bennett
Builder   A N Hill

Special architectural features and fittings   The two-storey church is constructed of dark red brick topped with a tile roof. It is exceuted in the Inter-War Art Deco style with elements of the Inter-War Gothic style.

The wbole Church is set in a comer site with grass and simple concrete paving up to the entrance. The east end has brick walling with steel fencing, which appears to have been added at a later date. There is no east end window, but a blank wall behind the altar. There is a very simple central pitched clay tiled roof over the altar and aisles. It is a rectangular building. The west end faces the road, whilst the heavy brick detailing is typical of the 1930s. The windows are stone and in Gothic style. They are in rectangular form at the sides and head. Glazing within the windows is in traditional Gothic perpendicular style for the west end window, with infill detailing over it. The entry into the Church from the corner is symmetrical at the west end, with low entrance porticos on either side of a slightly higher entrance that projects out from the main body of the Church.

The main body of the Church has vertical windows of Gothic Renaissance style. but with rectangular stone surrounds. These are built into brickwork side walls between vertical brick buttresses. The brick plinth is simple. The brickwork detailing is good wlth tile inserts below the parapet line, vertically at the heads of the buttresses and below ehe vertical windows to form air vents. Ihe east end projects out to form the altar recess.

The Church was the first of its particular width to be built without supporting pillars to take the thrust of the roof. Hence. the outside buttressed wall give it particular distinction. It is a fine example of Gothic Revival architecture.

Other location information   The history of the Anglican Church in the Nedlands district is linked to the development of both Subiaco and Claremont. Over time serviccs were held in various places, including private homes and Mission Halls. In 1922 it was decided to sell the Mission Hall to raise funds for a church. Five blocks or Land were purchased at the corner of Tyrell and EIlzabeth Streets by the Reverend H G Barnacle, On this property a small church called St Mary's was built in 1923. (The Foundation Stone was laid by Archbishop C Riley.) With an expanding population the St Mary's Church was extended by a verandah and the services of a hall buill next door. In 1930 Nedlands was made into a separate parish.

Requiring a bigger church, a building fund was set up in 1930 by Reverend Canon Barnacle and the job of fund raising was continued by Reverend Jaquet on his arrival in 1935. Building started in 1937 and in 1938 the new church was consecrated and dedicated to St Margaret. (The name change was decided owing to other churches in the diocese dedicated to St Mary.) The foundation stone of the old St Mary's survives along with the new foundation stone laid by Archdeacon CL Riley, the son of the Archbishop who laid the first stone. The total cost of the church was £4,626.18.6. The architect was Mr W G Bennett, who designed a number of public buildings in the Nedlands district. including the Nedlands Council Offices and the Infant Health Clinic. The building contractor was A N Hill. A stained glass window can be seen in St Margaret's commemorating Reverend Jaquet's services to the Nedlands parish, (This was donated by his family in 1975.)

The old parish hall continued in use for youth groups and Sunday School. Music In St Margaret's has a long and upstanding tradition, excellent choirs of state level performed on various occasions. ln 1959 the organ was seriously in need of replacement. The new organ was installed by Messrs Walker and Sons of London who were at the time installing the organ at Winthrop Hall, University of Westem Australia.

Name of contact  
Mailing Address  
Telephone  
Email  
Other contact information  

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Previous organ(s)
Date of previous organ   1939
Detail of previous organ  

J. E. Dodd, one manual mechanical action organ of seven (7) stops
Quoted as:
Manual: Octave 16', Open 8', Stopped Diapason 8', Dulciana 8', Principal 4', Fifteenth 2'. Pedal: Bourdon 16'

Actual stoplist

GREAT
Open 8'
Stopped Diapason 8'
Dulciana 8'
Principal 4'
Fifteenth 2' Transposed Quintadena
Octave 16' Sub-octave coupler
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PEDAL
Bourdon 16' Not yet installed
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Dates when key work has been undertaken  
Dates of any moves that have taken place   Built in 1939 for the residence of Miss M Brown, North Adelaide.
Later installed at St Margaret's Anglican Church, Nedlands.
Installed at St Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Katanning, in 1964. Removed 1979 to make way for new organ.
Installed at Denmark Uniting Church in 1998 by P J Elms & Co.

Variations from original design of organ  

Information on previous organ   Fine timberwork with crenellated top moldings

Information about comparable instruments to previous organ  
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Present organ
Type of installation   Chancel organ chamber

Case description   Plain display

Placement in room   Front left of sanctuary

Builder's name   J.W. Walker & Sons, Ruislip, Middlesex.

Opus number  

Date of completion/installation   1964

Construction materials  

Number of manuals   Two (2)

Key compasses   CC-ccc

Number of keys   61

Key material  

Pedal compass   CC-g

Number of pedals   32

Pedalboard type   Radiating concave

Pedalboard material  

Type of chests  

Type of key action   Electro-magnetic

Type of stop action   Electro-magnetic

Couplers   Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal
Great and Pedal combinations coupled
General combinations on Swell toe pistons
Double Touch canceller.

Tremulants   Swell

Accessories    Six thumb pistons to Great, Six thumb pistons to Swell, Reversable pistons for couplers, General Cancel

Console type   Integral stoptabs

Stop label material  

Placement   Stop rail

General design  

Playing aids   Four levels of memory

Divisions   Great, Swell, Pedal

Wind pressures  

Stop list  
Original base ranks are shown in red

GREAT
Contra Salicional 16' Enclosed G
Open Diapason 8' A
Hohl Flute 8' B
Salicional 8' Enclosed G
Octave 4' A
Principal 4' Enclosed E
Wald Flute 4' B
Twelfth 2-2/3' A
Fifteenth 2' A
Mixture III Enclosed C
Trumpet 8' Enclosed D
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SWELL
Geigen 8' E
Rohr Flute 8' F
Salicional 8' Enclosed G
Principal 4' A
Stopped Flute 4' F
Salicet 4' G
Nazard 2-2/3' F
Flautino 2' F
Salectina 2' G
Tierce 1-3/5' F
Mixture III C
Double Trumpet 16' D
Trumpet 8' D
Clarion 4' D
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PEDAL
Bourdon 16' B
Salicional 16' G
Geigen 8' E
Flute 8' B
Salicet 8' G
Quint 5-1/3' E
Octave Flute 4' F
Trombone 16' D
Trumpet 8' D
Clarion 4' D
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Total number of stops   36

Total number of ranks   7

Total number of pipes  

Dates when key work has been undertaken on current organ   Originally built as a five-rank extension organ in 1964.

Tonal additions and enlargement by Bellsham Pipe Organs Australia. Geigen Principal added to Swell in 1979 and Hohl Flute added to Great in 1986.

Computerised registration system added in 1988.

Dates of any moves that have taken place to current organ   None

Information on current organ  

Comparable instruments to current organ  

Assessment of organ and current status  

Other organs by this builder   There are several organs by J.W. Walker & Sons in Western Australia. Please refer to Western Australian Organs Builders Index

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Document control Original entries J R Elms, OAM, Gazetteer of Western Australian Pipe Organs, 1971, 1999, 2003 and 2004.
This entry D B Duncan 01 February 2009.
Some detail from an Organ With Friends brochure (10 Sept 1999) produced by the Organ Society of Western Australia.
Updated information, stoplist and photographs 23 June 2009.
Updated specification from Patrick Elms 04 January 2011.
Additional detail from In The Pipeline October/November 2000.
Photo of console by Patrick Elms 03 July 2017.
Information from Heritage Council of Western Australia
Photographs of the church interior and organ by Boyd Peters 04 April 2022.