Daylesford Uniting Church

The present church in the Gothic style was opened in 1865 and was designed by noted Melbourne architects Crouch & Wilson.  It is of interest for its brick broach spire, diapered brick façade and spacious interior with aisles separated from the nave by slender columns.

The first pipe organ (possibly by Francis Nicholson, Newcastle, UK) was installed in 1871 from the Mt Erica Methodist Church, Prahran and is now at Wesley College, Clunes.  The second pipe organ (by Hamlin & Son, London) was installed in 1881 and is now at St Paul’s Anglican Church, Clunes.  The present pipe organ, built by the Melbourne organbuilder William Anderson, dates from 1888.  It remains in a remarkable state of originality, retaining is fine casework with painted details and carved impost frieze, ornately stencilled façade pipes, action, console with sloping jambs, wind system and pipework: the metal pipework in spotted metal, apart from the zinc façade, was supplied to Anderson by George Fincham and is still cone tuned: 

14 September 1887

Open Dia Gamba Principal Twelfth  Fifteenth (stock)  Oboe (black metal)

CC to A zinc front 19 pipes ten C to A CC to A CC to A CC to A ten C to A

58 46 58 58 58 46

Voiced to 3 inches weight of wind

Minor restoration work was carried out in 1979-80 by Leighton Turner, of Ballarat, who presumably replaced the trigger swell lever with a balanced pedal to the right at this time.

This is one of the finest surviving Anderson organs comparable in quality with those at St John’s Anglican Church, Flinders, Victoria (1874) and Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Westbury, Tasmania (1881).