St Patrick's Catholic Church
Belmont Street, Sutherland

Roger Pogson 1984 (2/17 mechanical)

From SOJ February/March 1984, August/September 1985, Summer 1996-7:

The new Catholic Church of St Patrick at Sutherland was opened late in 1982 and has been built into the side of a hill. In the plans drawn up by architects Glendenning and King Pty Ltd., space was provided for a pipe organ and within twelve months of the building's completion a contract was signed with Roger H Pogson Pty Ltd for the construction of a mechanical action instrument.

View of the church from the air

Several ranks of quality pipework made in Holland by Stinkens for a new organ to be located in St Michael's College Chapel at the University of Sydney were used in building the instrument for Sutherland. (The pipework was purchased second-hand after the project envisaged for St Michael's by several enthusiasts unfortunately did not come to fruition.)

The specification for St Patrick's is as follows:

GREAT Principal Gedackt Octave Octave Mixture Trumpet SWELL (enclosed) Flute Gamba Gemshorn Sesquialtera Principal Quint Krummhorn Tremulant PEDAL Sub bass Flute Choral Bass Dulzian

8 8 4 2 III 8 8 8 4 II 2 1-1/3 8 16 8 4 16

* * (prepared for and later added) * * (prepared for) (prepared for) * * hook down toe lever (stopped) (open metal) (prepared for and later added) *

Manuals 56 notes CC - G
Pedal 30 notes CCC - F

COUPLERS
Swell to Great
Swell to Pedal
Great to Pedal.

* Denotes pipework from St Michael's College Chapel.


The casework of the new instrument is in oak to harmonise with the Church furnishings. Other timbers used in the construction are Brazilian Cedar, American Yellow Pine, and Amora for the windchests, which were be fîtted with aluminium pallets. "Schwimmer'' bellows with harmonium leg springs were fitted to the bottom of each chest.

The builder made Subbass pipes and twelve new wooden stopped pipes for the Swell Flute. The Quint came from pipework in stock, made by Australian Pipe Organs Pty Limited. The pipes were fitted wlth tuning slides and the whole instrument is tuned in equal temperament. The design provided for mechanical action throughout including the balanced swell shutter control. The shutters are located on either side of the box.

Photos: MQ 2006