St. Augustine's, Neutral Bay

Download Mirrors

Patches

  • St. Augustine's, Neutral Bay sample set patch from v1.00 to v1.01
    The above download will patch the version that was available prior to the 11th of September. The prior version had a looping error in bottom D of the Bourdon. The combination switches are also now visible in the "Connect switch (MIDI) inputs to organ inputs..." dialog box.

Preface

This is my second Hauptwerk sample set. More care has been taken in the recordings, and even more care was taken with the noise reduction in an attempt to bring you an instrument as close to the original as possible.

Front view of the organ containing great Open Diapason and Dulciana pipes.

View of the organ from the pews, showing the pedal Violon-Cello side case.

History

The organ of St. Augustine's Anglican Church, Neutral Bay was built by Hill, Norman and Beard in 1929 to a specification drawn up by George Faunce Allman. It's been built into a wonderfully detailed neo-Gothic case.

The original specification was as follows::

GREAT
SWELL
PEDAL
Open Diapason 8' Violin Diapason 8' Bourdon 16'
Claribel Flute 8' Lieblich Gedeckt 8' Violon-Cello 8'
Dulciana 8' Echo Gamba 8' Great to Pedal
Principal 4' Voix Celeste 8' Swell to Pedal
Suabe Flute 4' Octave 4'  
Swell Octave to Great Closed Horn 8'#  
Swell to Great Orchestral Oboe 8'  
Swell Sub Octave to Great Tremulant  
  Sub Octave  
  Octave  

# The Closed Horn is harmonic from middle C up.

In 1981, Walkers made some renovations to the organ including:

  • Replacing the Suabe Flute 4' with a Fifteenth.
  • Replacing the Voix Celeste 8' with most of the Suabe Flute flute transposed to form the Piccolo.
  • Recovering the leather motors of the triple-stage exhaust pneumatic action.
  • The cleaning of the organ.

The organ's soundboards, bellows and console all remain original. Worth noting is the 73 note swell chest, which has all current ranks provided with an additional octave of notes except for the Piccolo. The action of the organ and all of the coupling is tubular-pneumatic (except for the Swell to Pedal and Great to Pedal which are mechanical). The organ's compass is 61/30 and the swell is controlled by a balanced swell pedal.

In 1996, the bellows were releathered by Peter Jewkes Pipe Organ Builders Pty Ltd.

View of the console.

Organ Specification

The organ's compass is 61/30

View of the swell stops.

View of the great and pedal stops.

GREAT
SWELL
PEDAL
Open Diapason 8' Violin Diapason 8' Bourdon 16'
Claribel Flute 8' Lieblich Gedeckt 8' Violon-Cello 8'
Dulciana 8' Echo Gamba 8' Great to Pedal
Principal 4' Octave 4' Swell to Pedal
Fifteenth 2' Piccolo 2'  
Swell Octave to Great Closed Horn 8'  
Swell to Great Orchestral Oboe 8'  
Swell Sub Octave to Great Tremulant  
  Sub Octave  
  Octave  

Pedalboard details and balanced swell pedal.

View of the key-profiles and nameplate.

References

  • Author Unknown, 'St Augustine's Anglican Church', The Organ Society of Sydney, http://www.sydneyorgan.com/StAugustineNB.html, [accessed 30 September 2008]
  • Rushworth G. D. 1988, 'Historic Organs of New South Wales', Hale & Iremonger Pty Limited, GPO Box 2552, Sydney, NSW