Tour of the Anglican Parish of Jika Jika, Part 1

One of the career hazards of being an organist is the amount of time one spends around churches! My current post is as Director of Music in the Anglican Parish of Jika Jika. The parish is a recent amalgamation (2008) of three formerly independent parishes in the inner northern suburbs of Melbourne -- St George's, Reservoir, All Saints, Preston, and St Mary's, East Preston. The process of amalgamation is still in progress: the three centres still have a core group of people who regard their church as an independent entity, with all the jostling for resources that entails. I am 'resident' as organist at All Saints, Preston, but my remit extends to the musical resources of the whole parish. This means that I put the music list together, and conduct a joint rehearsal for the two choirs in the parish each week. If you're in this part of the world, and you'd like to join a choir, please get in touch! I'd like to share some images of All Saints. The building was designed by Louis Williams, one of Australia's most prolific church architects, and built in stages from the 1930s. While the exterior is OK -- the tower is a real disappointment, hence the screen of trees along the fence line -- the interior is magnificent, if a bit plain. This gives you a panorama of the interior looking east (the church is built along a geographical east-west axis). When I first saw the building, I was immediately reminded of the cathedral at Wangaratta. Williams was the architect who oversaw the completion of that cathedral, so it's tempting to see All Saints as a reflection of that influence. Among the furnishings, the church has a very handsome pulpit, and amply proportioned pews. And here is the view looking in the opposite direction. Before describing the organ, here is a view that shows what could be. Below is a photo of the south wall of the chancel, where the openings for the organ chamber are bricked up. Had the money held out, there would have been a nice large and open chamber here, but -- alas! -- it was not to be. The organ was built by a local firm, George Fincham & Sons, and installed at All Saints in 1949 to mark the diamond jubilee of the founding of the parish. It's your standard bed post-style case, with the swell box buried away in the aisle. Unusually for an instrument of this vintage and style, all the facade pipes speak.

Here's the specification:

Great	Open Diapason Clarabella Dulciana Principal Fifteenth Swell to Great Swell Superoctave to Great Swell Suboctave to Great	8’ 8’ 8’ 4’ 2’	A A A
Swell	Open Diapason Gedeckt Gamba Voix Celestes Clear Flute Oboe Swell Superoctave Swell Suboctave	8’ 8’ 8’ 8’ 4’ 8’
Pedal	Sub Bass Bass Flute Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal	16’ 8’	B B

I will post a sound sample or two when I get round to it. This instrument does soft sounds quite nicely, but anything beyond about mezzo forte is reliably disappointing. Having a principal chorus built out of an extension rank doesn't help; using a "gapped" registration (eg: Gt 8' +2') is OK as long as the swell octave to great is drawn in order to fill the gap. The most frustrating aspect of the instrument is the Oboe: it sounds like a dead cat being re-strangled! It's a very modest instrument, and hasn't worn well with time. There's also some very fine glass in the windows, so here's a selection.

[Epiphany window, north aisle] [Christ in Glory, north aisle] [St Peter, south porch] [St Cecilia, north porch. ] One of the daughter churches of All Saints was St Cecilia's, West Preston, now closed. The chapel in the base of the tower is dedicated to St Cecilia, and the window in the porch also marks the connection. [Christ the King, chancel window]