The South Island Organ Company is a manufacturer of

pipe organs The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks' ...

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

, New Zealand. The company, in business since 1968, has manufactured and restored over 300

throughout

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

Founders

South Island Organ Company was established by Garth Cattle (from Osmond of Taunton) and Vic Hackworthy (from Hill Norman & Beard of London).

History

During the 1970s employed John Gray, of Hill Norman & Beard, London as voicer, John Hargraves, of John Lee, Feilding as an

organ builder Organ building is the profession of designing, building, restoring and maintaining pipe organs. The organ builder usually receives a commission to design an organ with a particular disposition of stops, manuals, and actions, creates a d ...

and Neil Stocker as an apprentice. The new Company made an immediate impact with the rebuilding of St Johns, Invercargill (1931 3/37 HN&B/Lewis), the restoration of All Saints (1877 2/18 Bevington) and the rebuilding of St Matthew's (1879 3/26 Bevington) Dunedin and

Christchurch Cathedral ChristChurch Cathedral, also called Christ Church Cathedral and (rarely) Cathedral Church of Christ, is a deconsecrated Anglican cathedral in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. It was built between 1864 and 1904 in the centre of the city ...

Nelson organs in the first two years. These soon led to our first new organ at Craighead School (2/15), Timaru in 1970 and in 1973 the first 4 manual organ built in New Zealand for many years at St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin (4/61 Willis). In the same year organbuilder Gerald Green (of Hill Norman & Beard, Lewes) joined the company. By 1973 South Island Organ Company purchased both existing

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

sole-trader organ builders and built a new factory at

Washdyke Washdyke is an industrial suburb in the north of Timaru, in south Canterbury, New Zealand. State Highway 1 passes through Washdyke on the way north out of the city. The northern terminus of State Highway 8 is in Washdyke. Washdyke is home of ...

. In 1974, South Island Organ Company extended to the North Island of New Zealand. The first North Island installation being a new organ for Our Lady of Lourdes in

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

(2/3 rank extension). In the mid 1970s, in addition to building new pipe organs and rebuilding old instruments, South Island Organ Company began promoting conservation and preservation of New Zealand historic organs. This developed from a growing realization of the fragility of the resource in a largely unregulated market, and a conviction that the future of the organ was as a work of original artistry and craftsmanship. By 1980 South Island Organ Company had built, rebuilt, and restored seven

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

organs in New Zealand, including a second new tracker organ at Old St Paul's Cathedral (2/20) Wellington in 1977 and the first notable historic restoration, the 3 manual 1878 Halmshaw & Sons organ at Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament Christchurch (3/27) in 1978. Historic restoration brought with it a new appreciation of

tubular pneumatic action "Tubular-pneumatic action" refers to an apparatus used in many pipe organs built during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term "tubular" refers to the extensive use of lead tubing to connect the organ's console to the valves that control ...

organs culminating in the restoration in 1985 of the 1906 Norman & Beard 4 manual concert organ in Wellington Town Hall . The success of this project led to further pneumatic action restorations and overseas interest and in 1990 the company's first project in Australia, transplanting and rebuilding the 1868/1891/1953 (3/32)

George Fincham George Fincham (20 August 1828 – 21 December 1910) was an organ builder active in Australia. Fincham was born in London; his father (Jonathan George Fincham) and grandfather were both organ builders and so it is not surprising he practised t ...

organ from St Kilda Blind Institute for Paton Memorial Uniting at Deepdene. This was soon followed by the restoration of the George Fincham organs at Church of All Nations (1876, 2/13), Carlton and Trinity Uniting (1884, 2/14), Brighton in 1992, and in 1993 Victoria's prime historic organ at St Mary Star of the Sea (1899, 3/38) West Melbourne. South Island Organ Company operates out of its third factory built in 1985 at Washdyke Industrial Park. The Company regularly tunes and maintains over 300 pipe organs over Australasia.

Earthquake disaster

On 22 February 2011, an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

struck

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand taking the lives of South Island Organ Company's foreman Neil Stocker and factory hand Scott Lucy. Paul Dunlop, a helper from Christchurch was also killed. The deceased were a part of a team of eight which was removing the organ of Christchurch's

Durham Street Methodist Church The Durham Street Methodist Church in Christchurch was the earliest stone church constructed in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. It is registered as a "Historic Place – Category I" by Heritage New Zealand. The church was severely damaged ...

which had been badly damaged by an earthquake the previous September, and was reduced to rubble by the February earthquake.

Restorations

* The Maxwell Fernie Organ * St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin, New Zealand * St Patrick's Basilica, Fremantle, Australia * St Paul's Trinity Pacific Church * St Peter's Anglican Church, Willis St,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

* St Mary's Cathedral, Perth{{Cite web, url=http://www.ohta.org.au/confs/WA/STMARYSCATH.html, title=St Mary's Catholic Cathedral

References

External links

Official Website
Musical instrument manufacturing companies of New Zealand Pipe organ building companies Manufacturing companies established in 1968 New Zealand companies established in 1968