Historic pipe organ to feature in Keys of Gold Festival

The organ's console features scrolled oak key cheeks, left and right-hand stop jambs, as well as Fincham's brass nameplate. Photo: ORGAN HISTORICAL TRUST OF AUSTRALIA

A 140-YEAR-old pipe organ installed at St Augustine’s Anglican Church in Inglewood will be heard in its complete form for the first time as part of the inaugural Keys of Gold Festival, which takes place across Bendigo and the Loddon region during July.

Commissioned in 1878 by prominent Inglewood businessman Joseph Tivey, the organ was built by pioneering Melbourne organ builder George Fincham.

Due to cost constraints in the years immediately following the gold rush, the final set of pipes was never installed and the instrument has remained incomplete until now.

“This isn’t just a restoration, it’s a resurrection,” Thomas Heywood, international concert organist and the Festival’s artistic director said.

“After 140 years, Inglewood will finally hear the organ as Fincham intended.

“It’s an extraordinary piece of Victorian craftsmanship that’s been waiting quietly for its moment.”

The newly completed organ will be featured in a special performance on Saturday 26 July from 11am to 12pm at St Augustine’s, located at 67 Sullivan Street, Inglewood.

The concert, titled Olde World Favourites, will feature Thomas Heywood and soprano Merlyn Quaife AM performing a selection of classical pieces, including works by Bach, César Franck and Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély.

The region-wide Keys of Gold Festival is set to feature 16 concerts, 45 artists and 11 grand historic keyboard instruments, from cathedral pipe organs to concert pianos, in venues across Bendigo, Castlemaine, Maldon and Inglewood between Friday 4 and Sunday 27 July.

The full program can be found on the Bendigo Fine Music website.