history.
church of the town.
Carngham, once a gold mining township, is 25 km west of Ballarat. Its gold field was at the edge of a mining district which ran south-easterly to Snake Valley.
Carngham was the name of a pastoral run taken up in 1838 and is thought to be derived from an Aboriginal word which described a hunting or camping area.
In 1855 gold was found at Carngham and a rush of several thousand miners occurred in 1857.
Carngham was set in a locality dominated by pastoral estates, and the Carngham property was one of the largest. Its proprietor Philip Russell (cousin of the legendary George Russell of ‘Golf Hill’) donated £12,000 to build the spectacular Carngham Presbyterian church (1893).
Philip Russell also built a school house, mens’ quarters and stables (1886) on the Carngham estate and along with a later homestead (1920).
statement of significance.
Church Statement of Significance:
The church which was, unusually for Victoria, wholly privately endowed as a memorial to the squatter Philip Russell, and is finely built of bluestone. The building has an impressive interior with stone pulpit and unaltered pipe organ by Fincham & Hobday.
Church Classified: 'Local' 23/07/1969
Revised:18/05/1989
Organ Statement of Significance:
A two-manual organ of 11 stops, of lavish quality, built in 1893-4 by Fincham & Hobday, remaining in a remarkable state of originality, retaining its polished blackwood casework with double facade of ornately diapered pipes, tubular pneumatic action, tonal scheme and pipework. It is among the earliest Fincham instruments to survive retaining its pneumatic action which was first introduced by the firm in the previous decade, and the sole example known to remain utilising sliderless windchests.
Organ Classified: 'State' 02/07/1990.
National Trust of Australia
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