Perth Cathedral organ workers killed in NZ quake

By Anthony Barich
Two workers who worked on-site in Perth to restore and install the Dodd and Hobday organs in St Mary’s Cathedral in the lead up to its December 2009 completion were killed during the 22 February earthquake that devastated Christchurch.

Neil Stocker, at far right, who was killed in the 22 February earthquake that devastated Christchurch, pictured in mid-September 2009 when the Dodd organ was being installed in St Mary’s Cathedral’s choir-loft. The organ’s windchests and frames are seen. Photo: Courtesy Jacinta Jakovcevic

A third worker from the South Island Organ Company, who had not worked in Perth, was also killed.
Dead are company co-founder Neil Stocker and factory employee Scott Lucy who were part of a team of eight dismantling an organ at the Durham St Methodist Mission Church in Christchurch which had been damaged in the 4 September  2010 earthquake when the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck at lunchtime on 22 February.
Both had worked on the St Mary’s organs.
Also killed was company worker Paul Dunlop, who had not worked in Perth on the Cathedral organs.
Their bodies were recovered on 23 February after search teams, first with sniffer dogs and later heavy equipment, worked through the night of 22 February searching the debris for them. 
South Island Organ Company restored and rebuilt St Mary’s Cathedral’s Dodd and Hobday organs during 2008-2009, installing both organs in the Cathedral from September in readiness for the Cathedral’s opening on 8 December 2009. 
Mr Stocker had been with the company for 42 years.
“As factory foreman, Neil made a very significant contribution to the St Mary’s Cathedral organ restorations, working extensively both in the factory in New Zealand and here in Perth at the Cathedral during the installation,” Director of Cathedral Music and Principal Organist Jacinta Jakovcevic said.
Mr Lucy was also briefly in Perth at the Cathedral during the installation.
“Neil Stocker’s great dedication to his work on the Cathedral’s organ restoration and the genuine care with which he approached his work is an example of the great care and dedication with which he approached all of his work – the result of this is apparent each time we hear and sing with these two great instruments,” Miss Jakovcevic told The Record.
“He will be so sadly missed.” 
The organ in the church was being removed to be stored in Timaru while a decision on the church’s future was being made.
South Island Organ Company director John Hargraves told the Timaru Herald that the job was not rushed into, and they had waited for the building to be thoroughly checked and given clearance before the removal started.