Pipe Organs in WA
 
 
 
 
 

Lockyer Uniting Church, Albany
The pipe organs of Western Australia



Albany Lockyer Uniting Church

Albany Lockyer Uniting Church


Property
Name of institution   Lockyer Uniting Church
Type of institution0   Church
Street Address   Townsend Road
City   Lockyer, Albany
State   Western Australia
Postcode  
Country   Australia
Name of building   Lockyer Uniting Church
Name of room   Church sanctuary
Dates of the building  
Register of Heritage Places  
Heritage Place number  
Architect  
Builder  

Special architectural features  

Special fittings  

Other location information  

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   Freestanding

Case description   Open case

Placement in room   At the rear of the church on the floor

Builder's name   Alfred Kirkland, London.

Opus number  

Date of completion/installation   1890

Construction materials  

Number of manuals   Two (2)

Key compasses  

Number of keys  

Key material  

Pedal compass  

Number of pedals  

Pedalboard type  

Pedalboard material  

Type of chests  

Type of key action   Tracker

Type of stop action   Mechanical

Couplers   Swell - Great
Great - Pedal

Tremulants  

Accessories   

Console type   Integral drawstop

Stop label material  

Placement   Left and right jambs

General design   Hand blown

Playing aids   None

Divisions   Great, Swell, Pedal

Wind pressures  

Stop list  
GREAT
Open diapason 8'
Stop diapason 8' Metal
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SWELL
Gamba 8'
Principal 4'
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PEDAL
Bourdon 16'
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Total number of stops   Five (5)

Total number of ranks   Five (5)

Total number of pipes  

Dates when key work has been undertaken on current organ   Bellows repaired May 1894 before installation at Wesley Church.
Bellows altered 1918 by John Watts.
Enlarged 1941 F. Hufner.
Restored 1993-1995 by Patrick Elms & Co. New Pedal tracker action manufactured by Patrick Elms & Co. to replace arson damaged parts at the Paul Hufner factory in Bayswater.
Organ pitch restored to A=452 2010 by Patrick Elms & Co.

Dates of any moves that have taken place to current organ   Installed Wesley Uniting Church, Albany, 1894 by Mr Davis, Nicholsons', Sydney.
Installed in present location in 1995 by Patrick Elms & Co.

Information on current organ  
Bob (J.R.) Elms writes: There was a problem keeping the Stop Diapason in tune but then I realized that the organ's original pitch of A=452 had never been changed until it was restored for Lockyer Church when it ws tuned to A440 and so the pipes were too short. Patrick retuned it slightly higher in pitch which This solved the problem. He also did some readjustment of the pedal tracker action which was of his manufacture incidentally. The original was burnt in Paul's arson attack. The Kirkland also had the bellows repaired in May 1894 before it was installed in Wesley Church. This was discovered when Patrick releathered the bellows before installing it in Lockyer Church. Inside the bellows was something written in a Scandinavian script and the date Mai (sic) 1894. Unfortunately we could not find anyone who could read this and translate it for us and it is again sealed inside the regulator. I was told by one of our pioneer members that there was a Swedish man here who did some work on the organ and that may have been his work. I was told that there was damage to the organ on the sea trip from Sydney. Must have had some really rough weather. This man may have been given the job of fixing the damage to the bellows but that is conjecture on our part. The pedal organ was obviously added later and the name Collins is written on one of the pipes. A similar organ by the same builder in Carcoa (St Brigid's) has no pedal organ as such. It has similar pipework but all stops on one manual.

The casework of this organ has the names of the pumpers scratched on it with some well known names of church members of those days there for all to see.

Pedal Bourdon and Great to Pedal coupler were added to the organ after it was built, possibly in Sydney. Draw stop is not on the stop jambs but is under the keybed above the pedal clavier.

Comparable instruments to current organ  

Assessment of organ and current status  

Other organs by this builder  

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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 23 November 2008.
Updated with photo of church building by Bruce Duncan 28 April 2009.
Additional information from Bob Elms 01 December 2010.
Photograph of the organ by Patrick elms 13 April 2020.