Pipe Organs in WA
 
 
 
 
 

Congregational Church, North Perth
The pipe organs of Western Australia



NorthPerthCongregational

NorthPerthCongregational

NorthPerthCongregational
The property in 2023

Property
Name of institution   Congregational Church
Type of institution0   Church
Street Address   William Street
City   North Perth
(Currently reclassed as 65 Raglan Rd, Mount Lawley WA 6050)
State   Western Australia
Postcode   6050
Country   Australia
Name of building   Congregational Church
Name of room   Church Sanctuary
Dates of the building   1903
Register of Heritage Places   Adopted
Heritage Place number   02214
Architect  
Builder   H. Parker

Special architectural features and fittings   The former church St Margaret's Uniting Church has landmark value on its corner location and as a good example of the Federation Free Gothic style of architecture. The church has close associations with the Congregational and Uniting Churches and Wasley family. It has recently been adpated for residential purposes whilst still maintaing its cultural heritage significance.

The design of the church is based on the picturesque assymmetry of the latter period of the ecclesiological movement, with its open campanile breaking the formality of the eastern gable. The church was designed with an eastern vestry marked by a pedimented arched doorway, set between capped columns, which repeat the theme of the upper façade behind.

Other location information   On 20 November 1902, the Deacons of Trinity Church decided to establish a Home Mission in North Perth. Two blocks of land were purchased for £265 on the corner of Raglan and Clifton (William) streets. The foundation stone of the Church was laid on 14 February 1903 by Reverend W. T. Kench and Sir Edward Stone. Contractor H. Parker built the church for £994 and the manse for £465. The first service was held on 5 April 1903. A Sunday School was begun in 1904 under the guidance of the rector, Absalon Deans, and over the following decade, a girls' and boys' gymnasium (later Young People's Fellowship), men's association, cricket, tennis and badminton club, Girl Guide and Boy Scout troops and a junior choir were formed, giving some indication of the important social role played by churches in the first half of the 20th Century. The North Perth Congregational Church community purchased the buildings from Trinity Church in 1906. In 1907, the Sunday School Hall was added by contractor Martin L. Lloyd. In 1915, the Sunday School had 313 pupils and 52 teachers. According to Wise's Post Office Directories, the early rectors included Absalon Deans (1904), Reverend F.J. Searle (1913), Reverend Fred Priest (1925) and in 1938, Horace Ferguson. In 1949 the hall was listed with Lyall D. Dixon residing at No. 67. Extra land was added to the site on the William Street frontage in 1917 and in 1928, the addition of a new primary classroom, completed the Raglan Street frontage. This addition was designed by architect A.H. Nicholls and built by Joseph Webster. In the late 1930s, a new pulpit and choir stall were installed.

A two manual pipe organ, built by R.C. Clifton in 1908 and made available to the Church by the Clifton family, was officially opened on 22 December 1946 at a Choral Thanksgiving Service. By 1954, Sunday School membership was down to 60 children and 10 teachers. Early photographs show that the exterior brickwork of the buildings has been rendered since 1953. Other alterations included brick alterations in 1958 and a counselling centre in 1976. In 1977, the Presbyterian, Congregational and Methodist churches amalgamated to form the Uniting Church. This amalgamation resulted in many parishes having more than one church and it was decided to redevelop St Margaret's as a social service centre. It then became the Wasley Centre, named in honour of the Wasley family who had been involved with the Church since the foundation of the parish, including A.H. Wasley, who was a Deacon from 1905-1952. The centre was to provide training in family, marital and individual counselling, groundwork training, pastoral training and counselling. The Wasley Centre opened late in 1975, under the directorship of Dr G.M. Clayton, clinical pastoral supervisor and fully accredited psychodrama director. During 2004/2005 the place underwent extensive redevelopment with the conversion of the Wasley Centre (church and hall) to accommodate 12 residential units, the manse was refurbished and a new residential section was constructed.

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   The casework of this organ, designed by Clifton in the Gothic style, resembling the work of A.G. Hill in Britain, is of considerable distinction, with carved pipeshades, cresting and projecting V tower. The spotted metal pipework was manufactured by George Fincham & Son.

Placement in room   Front central

Builder's name   Robert Cecil Clifton

Opus number   5

Date of completion/installation   1895–1908

Construction materials  

Number of manuals   Two (2)

Key compasses  

Number of keys   56

Key material  

Pedal compass  

Number of pedals   30

Pedalboard type  

Pedalboard material  

Type of chests  

Type of key action   Mechanical (tape and bobbin), tubular-pneumatic pedal action
Type of stop action   Tubular-pneumatic

Couplers   Swell - Great (Great side)
Swell - Great (Swell side)
Great - Pedal

Tremulants   None

Accessories    None

Console type   Integrated, drawstop

Stop label material  

Placement   Flat jambs

General design  

Playing aids   3 thumb pistons to Great
3 thumb pistons to Swell

Divisions   Great, Swell, Pedal
Wind pressures  

Stop list  
GREAT
Open Diapason 8'
Lieblich Gedeckt 8'
Oktave 4'
Spitzflöte 4'
Fifteenth 2'
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SWELL
Lieblich Gedeckt 8'
Gamba 8'
Viol d'Amour 4'
Flautina 2'
Oboe 8'
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PEDAL
Gedeckt 16'
Salicional 8'
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Total number of stops   12

Total number of ranks   12

Total number of pipes   620

Dates when key work has been undertaken on current organ  

Dates of any moves that have taken place to current organ   Built for the music room of R C Clifton's home at 231 Adelaide Terrace, Perth.

Removed to the North Perth Congregational Church by J.E. Dodd. The instrument was opened on 22 December 1946 by Dr C. Edgar Ford.

Removed by F.J. Larner and Co. in 1976 and relocated with several alterations to St Alban's Church
Information on current organ   The organ was the last to be built by Robert Cecil Clifton

Comparable instruments to current organ  

Assessment of organ and current status   No longer at this location

Other organs by this builder   Robert Cecil Clifton built five pipe organs. Please refer to Western Australian Organs Builders Index.
  • Opus 1 is now located at St Aidan's Uniting Church, Claremont
  • Opus 2 (remaining parts of) is now located at St. Augustine's Uniting Church, Bunbury.
  • Opus 3 (remaining parts of) is now located at St John's Anglican Church, Fremantle
  • Opus 4 is now located at St John's Anglican Church, Kalgoorlie
  • Opus 5 is now located at St Anne's Roman Catholic Church, Belmont


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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 17 January 2009.
    Details of the organ from OHTA Conference Book 2004.
    Additional information about Robert Cecil Clifton can be found in the Leon D. Cohen book, Gathered Fragments the Biography of Robert Cecil Clifton, I.S.O. 1854-1931.
    Historical information from Freotpia.
    Historical photographs sourced by Boyd Peters 08 December 2023.