Pipe Organs in WA
 
 
 
 
 

St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church, West Perth
The pipe organs of Western Australia




StMary

St Mary

Property
Name of institution   St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church
Type of institution0   Church
Street Address   Colin Street
City   West Perth
State   Western Australia
Postcode   6005
Country   Australia
Name of building   St. Mary the Virgin Anglican Church
Name of room   Church sanctuary
Dates of the building   1905 - 1979
Register of Heritage Places  
Heritage Place number  
Architect   P.W. Harrison
Builder   S.I. Anderson

Special architectural features and fittings  

Other location information   The contract for building the Church was signed in August 1905 and very rapid progress was made once the contract was signed. At 4 pm on Saturday 18th November 1905 the Governor of Western Australia, Admiral Sir F.G.D. Bedford laid the foundation of the first portion of a brick building. The cost of the building was £3,500.

The church underwent a major renovation in 1936.

The Church building, however, remained unfinished by 1947. The building scheme at that time included the building of the Chancel to replace the present temporary structure; the North Transept to replace the dilapidated Choir Vestry; a similar South Transept to house the re-built organ; and finally the Tower and Porches at the West End of the Church. The Vestry aimed at completing the whole scheme including the Tower, by 1955 the Jubilee of the Church. What was completed is not documented.

St Mary's Church was involved in many outreach ministries in Perth. Anglican Health and Welfare Services, the Mount Hospital, Perth College, and St. Mary’s Church of England Girls School which was originally on the church property in West Perth and later relocated to Karrinyup, were all part of the work of this church.

However the population which drove these ministries had moved away from West Perth by the 1970's and the church became redundant. The church was demolished in 1979 to make way for The Mount Centre office buildings. A new modern St. Mary's Chapel was constructed in the complex.

Name of contact  
Mailing Address  
Telephone  
Email  
Other contact information  

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Previous organ(s)
Date of previous organ   None
Detail of previous organ  
Dates when key work has been undertaken  
Dates of any moves that have taken place  
Variations from original design of organ  
Information on previous organ  
Information about comparable instruments to previous organ  
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Present organ
Type of installation   Chamber

Case description   Display of plain pipes

Placement in room  

Builder's name   George Fincham & Son, Melbourne.

Opus number  

Date of completion/installation   1905
An Estey Organ was installed within three months of the original church completion, but it was replaced on 7th February 1911, when Bishop Riley dedicated an organ costing £375 that had been renovated by Messrs Dodd and Son.

Construction materials  

Number of manuals   Two (2)

Key compasses   CC-ggg

Number of keys   56

Key material  

Pedal compass   CC-f

Number of pedals   30

Pedalboard type  

Pedalboard material  

Type of chests  

Type of key action   Originally Tubular-pneumatic, then Mechanical, then Electro-pneumatic

Type of stop action   Originally Tubular-pneumatic, then Mechanical, then Electro-pneumatic

Couplers   Swell Super Octave
Swell Sub Octave
Swell - Great
Swell - Pedal
Great - Pedal

Tremulants  

Accessories    Two composition pedals per manual division

Console type  

Stop label material  

Placement  

General design  

Playing aids  

Divisions   Great, Swell, Pedal

Wind pressures  

Stop list  
GREAT
Open Diapason 8' Metal
Claribel 8' Wood
Dulciana 8' Metal
Principal 4' Metal
Flute 4' Wood
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SWELL
Violin Diapason 8' Metal
Gamba 8' Metal
Gedact 8' Wood
Celeste 8' Metal
Octave 4' Metal
Oboe 8' Metal
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PEDAL
Bourdon 16' Wood
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Total number of stops   12

Total number of ranks   12

Total number of pipes   646

Dates when key work has been undertaken on current organ   Built in 1905 for the residence of Mowbray Bunbury.

Removed in 1910 and installed in St Mary's Church, West Perth in 1911 by J E Dodd. Action changed to mechanical.

Church records indicate that "The partly completed organ was used for the first time on Sunday 25th June 1939." This coincides with a major restoration of the church in the period 1936-39 and indicates that the organ may not have been completed in the original installation.

Rebuilt in 1951 by Paul F. Hufner.

Tonal alterations in 1972 by F.J. Larner & Co. included the discarding of the Celeste and Dulciana to provide a Mixture and Gemshorn 2'.

Rebuilt in 1978 by Bellsham Pipe Organs (Australia) to provide electro-magnetic action.

Removed in 1979 by Bellsham Pipe Organs (Australia) and broken up.

"This organ underwent at least three partial rebuilds during its time in the original St Mary’s church building. The first was in 1952, the second during the late 1960s, and the third was in 1979. Its career following the last-mentioned was brief, as it was dismantled following a decision to demolish the original St Mary’s Church towards the end of 1979. When, in the following year, a new St Mary’s Chapel was completed, the organ was again rebuilt in a manner suitable for its installation in the new Chape . These repairs and renovations of the organ associated with the removal of pipe work were carried out. The organ bellows were re-leathered. The reed pipes were re-voiced in New South Wales. Most flue pipes were regulated upon re-installation. The roller cover for the console was repaired. The organ was cleaned and tuned. Its retention was largely at the behest of the then incumbent Archbishop of Perth, the Most Reverend Geoffrey Sambell. In its rebuilt, and slightly reduced, form, the organ was recommissioned during 1981 at St. Mary's Chapel."

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

Information on current organ  

Although the newspaper report says J E Dodd built the organ, he, in fact, removed it from Bailingup in 1910 and installed it at St Mary's Church in 1912.

In the process of the move Dodd changed the action from tubular-pneumatic to mechanical (tracker). The stoplist and pipework were unchanged.

The organ was built by George Fincham & Son, Melbourne, in 1905.

Comparable instruments to current organ  

Assessment of organ and current status   No longer in this location

Other organs by this builder   This was the only organ built by the well-respected Melbourne firm of George Fincham & Son in Western Australia.

The church was demolished and the organ broken up in 1979.

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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 January 2009.
Newspaper cutting provided by Andrew Gardner 07 December 2010.
Photo of the original organ from the Bob Elms collection scanned by Patrick Elms 18 May 2019.
Photograph of St Mary's Church sourced by Andrew Gardner 19 April 2020.
Information from A History of St. Mary’s Church West Perth by Kay Keng Khoo, 2006