South Island Organ Company

The South Island Organ Company is a manufacturer of pipe organs in Timaru, New Zealand. The company, in business since 1968, has manufactured and restored over 300 pipe organs throughout New Zealand, Australia and Oceania.

South Island Organ Company was established by Garth Cattle (from Osmond of Taunton) and Vic Hackworthy (from Hill Norman & Beard of London).

During the 1970s employed John Gray, of Hill Norman & Beard, London as voicer, John Hargraves, of John Lee, Feilding as an organ builder and Neil Stocker as an apprentice.

The new Company made an immediate impact with the rebuilding of St Johns, Invercargill (1931 3/37 HN&B/Lewis), the restoration of All Saints (1877 2/18 Bevington) and the rebuilding of St Matthew's (1879 3/26 Bevington) Dunedin and Christchurch Cathedral Nelson organs in the first two years. These soon led to our first new organ at Craighead School (2/15), Timaru in 1970 and in 1973 the first 4 manual organ built in New Zealand for many years at St Paul's Cathedral, Dunedin (4/61 Willis). In the same year organbuilder Gerald Green (of Hill Norman & Beard, Lewes) joined the company.

By 1973 South Island Organ Company purchased both existing South Island sole-trader organ builders and built a new factory at Washdyke. In 1974, South Island Organ Company extended to the North Island of New Zealand. The first North Island installation being a new organ for Our Lady of Lourdes in Palmerston North (2/3 rank extension).

In the mid 1970s, in addition to building new pipe organs and rebuilding old instruments, South Island Organ Company began promoting conservation and preservation of New Zealand historic organs. This developed from a growing realization of the fragility of the resource in a largely unregulated market, and a conviction that the future of the organ was as a work of original artistry and craftsmanship.

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