ST  MARY’S CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL, SYDNEY

 

St Mary’s Cathedral is the mother church of Catholicism in Australia.  Its foundation during the early days of the Colony was not without a great deal of difficulty.  Practising the Catholic faith was initially outlawed by the then government, thus causing Catholics to worship in secret. Fr John Therry, a pioneer priest in the Colony, had requested land on the foreshore in what is now referred to as the Rocks area in Sydney. Governor Lachlan Macquarie refused this and allocated the land where the current cathedral now stands.  At that time this site was little more than an undesirable dumping ground.  By a twist of irony, a great Neo-Gothic cathedral rose from this ignominious ‘dump’ to become the fine landmark it is today.

 

The foundation stone of the first St Mary's Church was laid on 29 October 1820 by Governor Macquarie, but the first Mass was not celebrated until 5 December 1833 owing to severe difficulties in raising funds for the enterprise.  The dedication had to wait until 29 June 1836, by which stage the building, 110ft long and 45ft wide in the nave, was decorated and furnished.  By this time, St Mary’s was elevated to the status of Cathedral with the arrival of Australia’s first Bishop, John Bede Polding OSB. It had been the intention of establishing a Benedictine monastery which never came to be.   On 25 August 1851 the foundation stone for extensions to St Mary's was laid, these in the Decorated Gothic style to the design of the celebrated English architect A.W.N. Pugin and consisting of an additional 51ft to the nave, flanked by a chapel and the base of a large tower which was to rise to 200ft.  On 29 June 1865 the entire building, including the Bevington organ, was destroyed by fire. Only a slender octagonal pillar from the north-east side of the old sanctuary remains, and this can be seen outside on the southern side of the east transept. (The location of the original cathedral was perpendicular to the current nave and ran along the axis of the current baptistery.)

 

Construction of the present cathedral began in 1866 to the design of William Wilkinson Wardell (1823-1899), one of the leading Catholic architects of the 19^th century, who had emigrated to Melbourne in 1858.  The dedication of the first section of the building took place on 8 September 1882 while by 1900 the eastern limb of the building, transepts, central tower and first two bays of the nave were complete with a total length at that stage of 200ft; the dedication took place in September.  The remaining six bays of the nave and the two towers together with the crypt were constructed in the 1920s and opened in 1928. Built in stone in the Decorated Gothic style, the building is 350ft in length (the longest ecclesiastical building in Australia) and the height of the nave from the floor is 90ft.  The exterior is notable for the square termination of the east end, resembling Lincoln Cathedral, the clerestory windows placed under gables, flying buttresses, the three towers and the rose windows which crown three of the façades.  Internally, the nave, transepts and sanctuary have groined ceilings in timber while those of the aisles are in stone.  There is a spacious triforium placed above the aisle roofs.  The high altar, in marble and Oamaru limestone, is a focal point of the interior while the subsidiary altars were designed by the noted English architect J.F. Bentley and executed by Farmer & Brindley, of London.  The stained glass is by John Hardman & Sons of Birmingham.  The spires were added in 1998 – 2000 and were constructed in accordance with Wardell’s design. [1]

 

The cathedral currently possesses four independent organs:  Whitehouse 1942, Sharp 1960, Bellsham 1985 and Létourneau 1999.  Prior to these instruments, there were three others.  The first Cathedral possessed a small instrument from the 1830s which was replaced in 1840 by a large two manual and pedal Bevington and with the case designed by Pugin.  Whilst the Bevington was lost in the fire of 1865, there are ranks of the earlier organ c.1820 which remain in the instrument now to be found at Lindfield Uniting Church. [2]   Prior to the current four organs was a short-lived instrument of small dimension and probably erected by Thomas V. Bridson, destroyed in the fire of 1869, followed by an incomplete two manual organ by Jackson of 1874  - broken up in 1959 - and sited in the southern corner of the eastern transept, opposite the Chapel of the Irish Saints. 

 

The Bevington organ of 1840 (two manuals, 24 speaking stops, 3 couplers and 10 composition pedals) was not only notable for its size, but also for the presence of a 32-foot pedal stop, a very progressive development for an English organ of such an early date.  The Charles J. Jackson instrument of 1874 was the Sydney builder’s largest and most significant instrument and until its demise possessed two manuals and 26 stops (four of which were supplied by Charles Richardson in 1892) and mechanical action.  The southern gallery organ, built by Whitehouse Bros., of Red Hill in Brisbane, was installed in 1942 and is the only example of a substantial instrument built in Australia during World War II, it being of further significance as one of the few organs of more than 20 stops from the 1930-50 period to survive basically unaltered anywhere in the country today.  Likewise the triforium organ, commenced in 1960 by Ronald Sharp, is of great significance as the builder’s first organ and one of the earliest Orgelbewegung instruments in the country, albeit one with electric action.  The crypt organ was originally built by Bellsham Pipe Organs of Perth for the residence of Steve and Louise Blatchford in Pymble, but was sold to St Mary’s in 1993. [3]   The Létourneau instrument, designed to a specification devised by the consultant and cathedral organist, Mr Peter Kneeshaw, is the Canadian builder’s largest Australian instrument and has finally provided the cathedral with a comprehensive choir organ which is also suitable for small-audience organ recitals and teaching.

 

It is regrettable that the soaring Neo-Gothic case designed for the Létourneau was never executed. Instead, Eric Wisden from the New South Wales Department of Public Works was responsible for the current design. Until the arrival of the Létourneau organ, the Whitehouse and Sharp organs were played simultaneously by two organists using headphones and a two-way microphone system.  Needless to say, this was merely a stop-gap measure and highly inadequate for the liturgy. The new nave console (a classical Cavaillé-Coll ‘console en amphithéâtre’), controls two organs.  The stops on the right are for the Létourneau  - in effect a large choir organ voiced in an English style -  in the Western Gallery, whilst those on the left currently act upon Whitehouse organ in the Southern Gallery.  A very large, French style four manual instrument has been envisaged eventually to replace the Whitehouse [4] .

 

 

© PdL 2005  

 

WESTERN TRANSEPT GALLERY

 

Orgues Létourneau Ltée, op 64 1999 [5] (4/46 mechanical and electric)

 

Great
Bourdon	16
Open Diapason	8
Harmonic Flute	8
Chimney Flute	8
Violoncello	8
Principal	4
Waldflute	4
Twelfth	2-2/3
Fifteenth	2
Mixture	IV
Sharp Mixture	III
Trumpet	8
Tremulant
Swell
Bourdon	16
Open Diapason	8
Stopped Diapason	8
Viole de Gambe	8
Voix Céleste	8
Principal	4
Nachthorn	4
Fifteenth	2
Mixture	V
Double Trumpet	16
Cornopean	8
Oboe	8
Clarion	4
Tremulant
Choir (enclosed)
Salicional	8
Stopped Diapason	8
Principal	4
Koppelflute	4
Nasard	2-2/3
Blockflute	2
Tierce	1-3/5
Larigot	1-1/3
Mixture	IV
Clarinet	8
Tuba	8	+
Tremulant
Pedal
Contra Bourdon	32
Open Diapason	16
Bourdon	16
Principal	8
Bass Flute	8
Choral Bass	4
Mixture	III
Trombone	16
Trumpet	8
Clarion	4

 

 

 

Couplers (Gallery console)

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Swell to Choir

Choir to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

 

PISTON COUPLERS

Pedal + Swell

Pedal + Great

Manual Coupler Assist

 

© PdL 2005

Additional Couplers (mobile console) [6]

Swell to Great

Choir to Great

Great to Pedal [7]

Swell to Pedal

Choir to Pedal

Swell to Choir

Pedal and Récit-Swell

Pedal and G.O.-Great

 

Récit-Swell Octave

Récit-Swell Unison off

Positif-Choir Sub-Octave

Récit-Swell Sub-Octave

G.O.-Great Octave to Pedal

Récit-Swell Octave to Pedal

Positif-Choir Octave to Pedal

All Sub-Octave

G.O. Transfer [to] Positif-Choir

 

Accessories

 

8 pistons per division       

3 tutti pistons

12 general pistons            

Reversible coupler pistons

256 memories for general pistons with sequencer      

combination card reader

programmable crescendo pedal      

transposer

 

Prepared for couplers

(MOBILE CONSOLE)

 

Chamades to Pos-Ch

Chamades to GO – Gt

Chamades to Bombarde

Bombarde to Récit

Récit to GO

Bombarde to GO

Récit to Positif

Bombarde to Positif

Pédale  & Bombarde (Pistons Coupled)

Bombarde Sub-octave

Bombarde Octave

Chamades Sub-octave

Chamades Octave

Bombarde Octave to Ped

 

 

manual coupler assist on gallery console     

MIDI on mobile console

 

Mechanical action attached console in the gallery

Electric-magnetic action for mobile console in the nave

 

Compass 61/32

 

+ unenclosed - 355 mm wind.  This stop plays on the Choir manual of the western gallery console and on the fourth manual of the mobile console.

 

© PdL 2005
 

 

SOUTHERN GALLERY

 

Whitehouse Bros., 1942 (2/27 electric)

 

GREAT
Double Diapason	16	B
Open Diapason No. 1	8
Open Diapason No. 2	8
Stopped Diapason	8
Dulciana	8
Octave	4
Flute	4
Twelfth	2-2/3
Fifteenth	2
Trumpet	8	E
SWELL
Bourdon	16	D
Violin Diapason	8
Lieblich Gedact	8
Salicional	8
Vox Angelica	8
Geigen Principal	4
Piccolo	2
Mixture	III
Cornopean	8
Oboe	8
Tremulant
PEDAL
Open Diapason	16	A
Violone	16	B
Bourdon	16	C
Echo Bourdon	16	D
Octave	8	B
Bass Flute	8	C
Trombone	16	E

 

 

 

Couplers

Great to Pedal

Swell to Pedal

Great Octave

Swell Sub Octave to Great

Swell Super Octave to Great

Swell Sub Octave

Swell Super Octave

 

Electro-pneumatic action

Compass 61/30

 

4 adjustable pistons each to the

     Great and Swell

2 adjustable pistons to the Pedal

crescendo pedal

Sw/Gt reversible

Gt/Ped reversible

Sforzando piston

 

balanced swell pedal

 

 

CHANCEL TRIFORIUM

 

Ronald Sharp, 1960 [8] (2/26 electro-pneumatic)

 

Great (West)

Positiv (East)

Rohrflöte

8

Gedact

8

Prinzipal

4

Rohrpfeife

4

Spitzflöte

4

+

Prinzipal

2

Nasat

2 -2/3

Blockflöte

2

Hohlflöte

2

Quint

1-1/3

Rauschpfeife

II

Octav

1

Mixtur

III – VI

Sesquialtera

II

+

Trompete [9]

8

Cymbel

II

Krummhorn

8

+

Tremulant

+

Cimbelstern

Pedal (West) [10]

Couplers

Sub-Bass [11]

16

Positiv to Great

Prinzipal [12]

8

+

Great to Pedal

Octav [13]

4

Positiv to Pedal

Nachthorn

2

+

Mixtur

IV

+

Electro-pneumatic action

Posaune [14]

16

+

No playing aids

Trompete

8

+

Compass 54/30

Kornett

2

+

+ = prepared for

© PdL 2005

CRYPT

 

Bellsham Pipe Organs, 1985 (2/9 mechanical)

 

Manual I & II

(stops duplexed by way of three-way levers)

Quintade	8
Gedackt	8
Spitzflöte	4
Principal	2
Larigot	1-1/3
Spare slide for 8’ reed
Pedal
Sordun	16

 

 

Couplers

(hitch-down)

II/I

I /P

II/P

 

 

Mechanical action

 

Compass 56/30

 

 

 

Primary references:

 

St Mary's Cathedral Sydney 1821-1971, editor: Patrick O'Farrell.  Surry Hills, NSW: Devonshire Press for St Mary's Cathedral, 1971.

 

Brian Andrews, Creating a Gothic Paradise: Pugin at the Antipodes.  Hobart: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, 2002, pp.168-170.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conjectural illustration derived from historical evidence

of the 1840 Bevington organ with AWN Pugin

designed case at St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney

(drawing by Graeme Rushworth)