Residence of Dr Thomas Campbell

The John Nebe organ in the workshop of W.J. Simon Pierce (2001)
[Photograph supplied by Thomas Campbell]

Historical and Technical Documentation by Geoffrey Cox
© OHTA 2011, 2013 (last updated May 2013)

This organ is thought to have been built between c.1923 and 1927 by Mr John Nebe of Brisbane. It was the first of two instruments that Nebe built, both located initially at his residence, cnr Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Coorparoo, and both subsequently moved to the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Warren Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

Mr John Nebe, playing an unidentified organ
[Photograph from: Naomi Aird, A Pictorial History …
of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Warren St. Fortitude Valley (2004), p. 13]

The extent to which John Nebe was responsible for building this organ is uncertain. Indeed, an entry headed 'Mr Nebie' in the Whitehouse Bros ledger suggests that all or part it may have been supplied second-hand in 1923:

Small pipe organ £10.	1923
Six new pipes March	19241

The instrument is reported to have been completed by Nebe around 1927.² It was removed from his residence at Coorparoo and installed at Bethlehem Lutheran Church by Whitehouse Bros of Brisbane, at which time they also supplied and fitted an octave coupler.³ The organ was installed in the church in time for the opening and consecration of the building on 1 December 1929, when Mr Nebe himself played the instrument:

After an opening prayer by Pastor Reimers, the choir (Mr. J. Nebe playing the pipe organ, and a 'cellist and five violinists assisting) the whole of the congregation sang the first hymn.⁴

Organ Specification

MANUAL	Pitch	Notes
Open Diapason	[8']	[enclosed, except for bottom octave of Clarabella]
Clarabella	[8']	[gvd bass]
[Wald] Flute	[4']	[originally Tenor C; completed 2002?]
Salicet	[4']	[1985, on spare slide]
[spare slide]

COUPLER: Octave Coupler [removed 1985]

Mechanical action
No pedals
Compass: 56 notes.¹²