ONE OF THE STATE’S most historic musical instruments has been acquired by the Archdiocese of Perth, and will soon make St Anne’s Church in Belmont its new home.
Built by the Swan River Colony’s first organ builder, Robert Clifton, between 1895 and 1908, the organ was recently donated to the parish by St Alban’s Anglican Church in Highgate, after it was deemed to be surplus to the parish’s needs.
The organ was originally built for Clifton’s home in Perth, and is the biggest and most intact of his six instruments to survive until today.
St Anne’s is now fundraising to cover the cost of the organ’s installation and restoration, but parish priest Fr Michael Rowe told The Record the cost is far less than what the organ is worth, making its donation a “generous gift”.
Fr Rowe said he first learnt that St Alban’s Anglican Parish was no longer in need of the organ last year.
“I rang the rector there, the Reverend Trevor Goodman-Jones, and he said… they were looking for a new home for the organ,” he said.
Along with several other interested parties, St Anne’s made an application for the organ, and Fr Rowe was informed that the application had been successful in December 2013.
St Alban’s decided St Anne’s met all the criteria it had for the organ’s new home – that it be used regularly, that it belong to a church, that it stay in WA, and that the new owner pay for all costs associated with its removal.
The organ has already been moved out of Highgate and has been disassembled for restoration. It is hoped it will be installed and in use at St Anne’s next month.
Fr Rowe said the organ, which is roughly as old as the St Anne’s church building, would be an excellent addition to the parish.
“It will help the Church’s liturgy because the organ can play the pieces of music that couldn’t be played on the old organ, specifically pieces written by Bach and so forth,” he said. “We always needed a good pipe organ to enhance the liturgy at St Anne’s because the one we had… didn’t have sufficient range to play the Church’s music.”
Dr Andrew Cichy, the organ consultant for the project, said the Clifton organ’s tone can be described as “bright, clear and warm”.
“The scaling of the pipework is perfect for St Anne’s church, so that while providing good support for singing as well as solo repertoire, the sound will never be oppressively loud or shrill,” he said.
Dr Cichy said the new instrument would be better equipped than the previous parish organ to train future organists and to produce a better musical repertoire.
“It’s my hope that it will become not just a liturgical instrument for Belmont but also a high-quality teaching instrument for the Archdiocese,” he said.
“It is a significant project for Catholics in Perth, as it is the first time in more than 25 years that a pipe organ with mechanical action has been installed in a Catholic church in the Archdiocese.
“Mechanical action is the type of action that was employed for centuries before electricity was invented. [Organs with mechanical action] can play much more expressively than with an electrical action.”
The last mechanical pipe organ to find a home at a Catholic church in Perth was installed at St Cecilia’s Parish in Floreat in 1988.
Trinity College Chapel, the Benedictine Monastery of New Norcia and St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Geraldton are the only other Catholic churches in the State with a mechanical action organ.
Mr Cichy said St Anne’s had done “extremely well” to secure such a valuable and historic instrument.
“One thing I do a lot of is consulting for parishes wanting to install a second-hand organ, and they are often an attractive and financially viable option,” he said.
“There are often very beautiful instruments that need new homes. The organ at Our Lady Queen of Peace, Willagee, is a very exciting project and is another example of a high-quality instrument being given a new home in the Archdiocese.”
The cost of refurbishing and installing the organ is $9,540. To aid the fundraising effort, contact Fr Michael Rowe on 9444 9604.