St. Saviour's Anglican Cathedral, Goulburn, Australia

St. Saviour's Anglican Cathedral
Goulburn
Australia(AUS)

St Saviour's is one of the most beautiful provincial cathedrals in Australia. It was designed by Edmund Blacket in Gothic Revival style and opened in April 1884. The exterior is of Bundanoon sandstone and the interior is noted for its elaborate stone tracery and marvellous east window. The furnishings are of particular interest, especially the carved Bishop's throne. The tower, completed as a Bicentennial project in 1988, was built in accordance with the original design and houses a peal of bells dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The organ was built in 1884 by Forster & Andrews of Hull and was originally placed in the west gallery. There is substantial evidence to suggest that Edmund Blacket contributed significantly to the design of the instrument and to the choice of builder. Construction of the organ was supervised by Dr E.J. Hopkins.

The original action was mechanical with pneumatic lever to the Great and Swell. In 1902 the organ was moved from the gallery to its present position in the chancel end of the south aisle, where it was reconfigured and provided with tubular-pneumatic action by Frederick Taylor of Melbourne. In 1908 Taylor completed the construction of display pipes to fill the space above the console in the chancel arch, the original case being erected in the transept. In 1978 the organ was rebuilt by Brown & Arkley of Sydney who, among other things, restored the soundboards, pipework and console area, while installing a new electro-pneumatic action. Several missing ranks among the Great and Swell mixtures were replaced and the Swell Oboe was restored to 8' pitch.

In recent years a number of repared-for ranks in the oniginal scheme have been supplied by Ian Brown & Associates. The Great Gamba 8' was installed in 1997 as a memorial to Jeni Barringer, Cathedral Organist for a number of years before her death in March 1996, and the Great Clarion 4' was supplied in 1998, following repairs by Australian Pipe Organs of Melbourne. Both these ranks, made by Forster & Andrews in 1881 were originally located in the former organ at the Great Hall, University of Sydney.