
The organ in St George the Martyr Anglican Church in Goodwood has seen several alterations over the last 120 years. Built in 1903 by Alphonse Noterman, and designed by organ architect Edward Conrath, and then rebuilt and enlarged in 1970 and 1976 by J. E. Dodd & Sons (Gunstar Organ Works) with further enlargement by Leith Jacobs in 1998, it was in need of remedial works to refresh some components that were showing their age. Pipe Organs Victoria were commissioned to refurbish the instrument in 2023.

The pneumatic pulldown motors of the Great being fitted with new leather.

New leather completely fitted to a pneumatic motor.
The project began with the restoration of the Great pneumatic pull down motors, which were suffering from perished leather resulting in some notes not speaking. We carefully removed and replaced the leather applying traditional techniques and materials, including high quality pneumatic leather and traditional hot “animal” glue, along with replacement of the paper gaskets, restoring the Great division to full speech.
Organ Cleaned Feb 1937 with white spirit
Following on from the Great action, a number of pipe repairs were carried out. Several sagging resonators on the Swell trumpet were straightened out and the Geigen Principal C#2 collapsed foot repaired. The entire oboe rank was removed, cleaned, slipped tongues repositioned. The Sw principal chorus and strings, and Gt diapason chorus and Trompette assessed for speech, tonal finishing carried out to restore the blend of the chorus, greatly enhancing the sound of the instrument in the building.

The repaired pipework contrasted with the same pipes before repair (insert).
Further work was undertaken on the console to bring it back to full operation. In our Melbourne workshop, we fully refurbished the pedal board including recapping and reprofiling of the keys. On reinstallation of the pedal board, we regulated the key depths and striking points throughout both manuals and pedals, carried out a general cleaning to refresh the console. The result is a far more comfortable and responsive key and pedal action resulting in an improved sensitivity of touch, enabling organists to achieve their desired musical expression more readily.

The pedalboard in the Pipe Organs Victoria Melbourne workshop during its refurbishment.

Newly refurbished pedalboard reinstated in the organ.
In order to improve the overall condition of the organ chamber, we undertook a minor cleaning of the bellow tops, swell shutters, walkways and walkboards, and other accessible surfaces. Working with the parish’s house electrician, we oversaw the installation of new and updated maintenance lights compliant with safety codes to ensure a safe working environment for future tuning and maintenance. In addition we treated the blower for rust spots and replaced the severely perished flexible connection to main wind trunk with new leather, reinstating the stability of the wind supply.
It has been our great pleasure to work with Fr Scott and the parishioners of St George the Martyr in Goodwood. It has been a delight to hear the parishioners report a noticeable improvement to the sound of the organ since our work, and we are proud to have contributed to the rich musical life of the parish.