Sydney's St James' Church waited a long time for a new organ. A massive fire in the US delayed its arrival

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The oldest church building in the city of Sydney with a tradition of music spanning 200 years is expecting a new organ from the United States despite a devastating fire.

Transcript

00:00 Thoughts of the old St James organ, faithful servant of 50 years, trigger a wry smile among

00:07 those familiar with its quirks.

00:11 The last organ was a little bit of a mongrel and lasted far longer than it should have.

00:17 There are some memories of some extremely solemn moments in a church proceeding and

00:22 the organ just making its own little honking sound.

00:26 The historic Anglican church searched far and wide for a more reliable replacement and

00:31 landed in Lake City, Iowa.

00:35 Dobson Pipe Organ Builders had started work on the new St James organ in 2021 when disaster

00:41 struck.

00:43 Fire engulfed the US business while its owner was working interstate.

00:47 By the end of the day it was obvious that the shop would be a complete loss.

00:51 Did you think it was going to be possible to get the project back on track?

00:56 We had no idea what would happen.

00:58 Local businesses offered Dobson space, tools were replaced through fundraising and work

01:03 on the St James organ started up again.

01:06 We were really humbled and gratified by all the support.

01:10 It's due to arrive in January ahead of the bicentenary of the church's consecration.

01:16 Once the new organ's pipes are in place, the job of completing this vast instrument won't

01:21 be over.

01:22 Each pipe will have to be individually tuned to ensure the sound is just right.

01:28 Organist David Drury hopes it will inspire people to study the instrument overseas.

01:33 Some of the instruments of course were built at the time of the famous composers like Bach

01:38 and people like that and you play these instruments and then you come back here with all of that

01:44 knowledge.

01:45 I think there's some real musical magic to be made.

01:48 It's been a phenomenal phoenix out of the ashes really.

01:51 [music]

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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