CHRIST CHURCH ANGLICAN CHURCH, ECHUCA

Christ Church was designed by the prominent Bendigo architects Vahland & Getzschmann. The foundation stone was laid in 1864 and the first service held in 1865. The transepts were begun in 1866 and the nave added in 1875. The building is constructed of brick with a slate roof. The small heavily buttressed Germanic apse contrasting with the higher gables of the nave and transepts is typical of Vahland's work in other places such as Dunolly and Rushworth. The building includes attractive stained glass windows, those in the apse possibly by William Montgomery, of Melbourne, and a carved wooden altar.

The first organ at Christ Church, a single-manual instrument of seven speaking stops, was built in 1873 by George Fincham and was installed in 1922 at St Anselm's Anglican Church, Middle Park; it is now at St Silas' Anglican Church, Albert Park where it survives intact.

The structure of the present organ (case, chests, console, drawstops, action and wind system) comes from the 1873 instrument built by George Fincham for St Giles' Presbyterian Church (the High Church) in Geelong; this was possibly the first pipe organ in a Presbyterian Church in Victoria. A new organ by Frederick Taylor of Hawthorn was installed at Geelong c.1919 and the old organ was removed in that year to Echuca. Taylor retained at Geelong almost all of the Fincham pipework for his otherwise new organ, including the Great Stopd Diapason, Dulciana, Principal, Flute, Fifteenth; Swell; Open Diapason, Stopd Diapason, Gemshorn, Mixture II, Cornopean and Pedal: Bourdon. For Christ Church, the only pipework that may have been used from the Fincham organ was the bass of the Great Open Diapason and the Twelfth; the contemporary accounts state that "the instrument for Christ Church has since had new piping" and incorporates new unplaned black metal fluework. The Viol d'orchestra "will enable the organist to give a fine imitation of the violin, as fine an imitation as can be produced by an organ." The case consists of three flats, the central flat contained within a heavily cusped gabled arch. This cedar case is not typical of Fincham's work and it is likely that it was designed by Nathaniel Billing, the architect of the church in Geelong. The opening recital was given on 3 September 1919 by Dr A.E. Floyd, whose programme included works by Bach, Handel, Sterndale Bennett, Wesley, Dubois and Salome. Work has been carried out at various stages by Charles Lomas and in 1982 by George Fincham & Sons Pty Ltd who provided new reversed colour keyboards, remade the slider chests with slide seals and revoiced the pipework.

GREAT
Open Diapason 8 [Fincham bass]
Stop'd Diapason 8
Dulciana 8
Principal 4
Flute 4
Twelfth 2-2/3 [Fincham: spotted metal]
Fifteenth 2
Swell to Great

SWELL
Open Diapason 8
Stop'd Diapason 8
Viol d'Orchestre 8 TC (Taylor)
Gemshorn 4
Oboe 8
Tremulant

PEDAL
Bourdon 16
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

Compass: 56/29
Attached drawstop console
Mechanical action to manuals and stops; tubular-pneumatic pedal action (Taylor)
4 composition pedals

Keith Cole, A History of Christ Church, Echuca (1865-1990): Faithful Witness for 125 Years. Bendigo: Keith Cole Publications, 1990
E.N. Matthews, Colonial Organs and Organbuilders. Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 1969, pp. 167, 170
'New Organ for Christ Church: A Description of the Instrument; Work of Erection Commences', Riverine Herald, 28 June 1919, p.2;
'Organ Recital', Riverine Herald, 3 September 1919, p.2
Personal communication Robert Heatley to John Maidment August 2003