BATHURST - WM : AUSTRALIA

*Location:

   War Memorial Carillon Tower
   King's Parade
   William, George, Church & Russell Streets
   Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
   LL: S 33.41777, E 149.57916
Site locator map
City locator maps and gazetteer page

*Carillonist:

   Denise Garland
   - and -
   Wendy Murphy
   - and -
   Jennifer Roberts
*Past carillonist:
   Nov.1933 A.B.B.Ranclaud, Univ. of Sydney

*Contact:

   Friends of the Bathurst War Memorial
     Carillon
   c/o Wendy Murphy, Secretary
   T: 0419 986 580
   E: contact/@/bathurstcarillon.org DOTau
   - or -
   Bathurst Regional Council
   PMB 17
   Bathurst  NSW 2795
   T: (02) 6333 6111   F: (02) 6331 7211
   E: council@bathurst.nsw.gov.au

*Schedule:

   Automatic daily at noon and 1pm

*Remarks:

   Original bells cast 1928, shipped 1929,
   stored until installation in 1933.
   Original intent for baton keyboard was
   derailed by financial problems of the
   Great Depression, and never recovered;
   "temporary" electro-pneumatic system
   remained in place, though defunct for
   many years.  New electric automatic
   system by Hervey Bagot, c.1995.
   New baton keyboard has space for future
   addition of 7 trebles; bass C# & D#
   keys & pedals are dummies; both pedal-
   boards have extended bass range
   (also dummies).

*Technical data:

   Traditional carillon of 47 bells
   Pitch of heaviest bell is D  in the middle octave
   Keyboard range:     C C 49/    C C 25
   Transposition is up  2 semitone(s), i.e., from C to D 
   There are two missing bass semitones
   There is a practice console
   The instrument was enlarged in 2020
     with 25 bells made by Taylor       
   Prior history:
     In 1933, the instrument was begun with 35 bells
       made by Taylor in 1928
       (22 bells remain from that work.)
   Auxiliary mechanisms: IE    
   Tower details not available
   Year of latest technical information source is 2020
*Links:

The Website of the Friends of the Bathurst War Memorial Carillon opens with a splendid large photo of the tower.

The project page from Taylor (seen Feb.2020) describes work on the carillon.  There is a photo of the new 4-octave keyboard (-Z49:CC/CC25), which has space for the future addition of up to 7 trebles (extending range to G).  Also a photo gallery: tower, some new trebles (both on the foundry floor and in their new radial frame); a keyboard photo appears to show the wrong instrument--it's 5 octaves (-Z61:GG/GC30), but perhaps that's the practice keyboard.
Mar.2020: Practice keyboard is in use; carillon work is to be completed later this year.

News article (18My'20) on arrival of the new clavier in Bathurst; unfortunately there is no photo of it.

News article (Mar'19) about search for carillonists for Bathurst includes photos of new & old bells in the belfry (though manual action is not yet installed); clavier to be installed by the end of this year.  Includes a brief video of treble bells (0:17) and a video view from one side of the tower (0:27).

The Monument Australia page about the carillon has photos and history.

A city page about Kings Parade has two photos of the tower.

An official page about this war memorial has not been updated to reflect the recent expansion.

News article (Feb.2018) on plans for expansion

GCNA Forum topic on this carillon, with three large photos of bells & action plus detailed analysis of what is there and what's needed to make this into a traditional carillon.

A National Register of War Memorials page has photos of the tower but only a brief description.

An Art Deco History blog page has more photos and a bit of history.

A historic photo; another from the same source

Another historic photo

A peace carillon page has photos and additional information.

Newspaper article (13Sep1933) about the unveiling ceremony for the tower and carillon.

Where the initial phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.
Where the final phase of this work lies in the sequence of output of the Taylor bellfoundry, in this region and in the world.

Ranking among all Asian & Pacific Rim traditional carillons by pitch (weight).
Ranking among all Asian & Pacific Rim traditional carillons by size (number of bells).
Ranking among all Asian & Pacific Rim traditional carillons by year of completion.

Index to all tower bell instruments in Australia.

*Status:
   This page was built from the database on 14-Oct-24
   based on textual data last updated on 2023/09/21
   and on technical data last updated on 2021/09/30
*Photos:

(none available)

Explanations of page format and keyboard range are available.

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