Bathurst War Memorial Carillon Tour

In the lead up to the Bathurst Winter Festival I read that there would be tours of the Bathurst War Memorial Carillon.  The Carillon is one of the main landmarks in the centre of town and it is really rare to get to see inside.  I straight away rang and booked the tour, which I am glad about, as there were only two tours, with eight participants in each.

Our Carillon is rather special, being one of only three in Australia, the others being located at Sydney University and in our capital, Canberra.

We had toured the bell tower on the nearby Anglican Cathedral a couple of years ago, which was really interesting.  I can’t seem to see that I blogged about it, which is a shame.  It was only built in the last 20 years or so. This photo was taken during the Winter Festival.  Our town centre is unusual as we have the cathedral bell tower, carillon and Courthouse tower all in a row.

Anyway, back to the tour….

Firstly, a bit of history….

Just a few days after Australia declared war in 1914, several local men volunteered to go to fight.  They were sent off on their big adventure with much fanfare.  By the end of 1918, it had become apparent that WWI was not a big adventure but a nightmare with huge losses.  Bathurst lost many men, including the Mayor’s son.  It was decided that a memorial should be built. By the end of the war nearly 2,000 Bathurstians had gone to war with the loss of 460 lives.  That was a huge impact for the town at that time.

It was decide to build the memorial in Kings Parade, which is a lovely park in the centre of town.  The site had previously been the home to a market hall, which had been demolished.  At the time, a memorial for the Boer War had been built at one end and another statue was under construction at the other end to commemorate the surveying of the route to and site of the town.

The initial memorial consisted of a simple flagpole in the centre of a garden in the centre of the park, shown here with the Courthouse in the background.

Plans commenced in 1919 to build a proper memorial, but there wasn’t a great deal of enthusiasm in the community, as the war was still rather fresh in everyone’s mind.  Not only that, the design of a memorial could not be decided upon.

In the mid 1920s a new committee was formed to progress the memorial. One of the committee members had been impressed by a War Memorial Carillon he had seen in England and it was ultimately decided that we would build one too.  After a competition, this design was chosen.  Building commenced in 1927, progressing only to the huge footing and the surrounding first brick level below the tower.  Then the money ran out.  Nothing happened for a few years and the Great Depression came along.  In the early 1930s the new mayor said that it either had to be built, or the current eyesore should be demolished.  Fund raising recommenced, firstly by people donating pennies to cover the area of the platform that had already been built, then by a “buy a brick” subscription.  

Building started again, with completion in 1933, with the dedication taking place on Armistice Day, 11 November, 1933.  There are 212,000 locally made bricks in the tower, which stands 30 metres tall and was built at a cost of 8,000 pounds. But….according to the original design, it wasn’t quite complete…… More on that later.

There were 35 bells installed in the tower.  

The largest three were inscribed with memorials to the soldiers, sailors and nurses, while the smaller bells were named after each of the local villages in the area.

The Carillon is the centrepiece of Bathurst’s ANZAC Day events. We always attend the Dawn Service.

Now to our tour….

We entered the room at the base of the tower.  This houses the ‘Eternal Flame”.  The original one was installed in 1965.  However, it was replaced in 2019 with the current version, as the smoke from the gas flame was damaging the interior.  The new Eternal Flame was revealed on ANZAC Day in 2019 and we were there.  Please take the time to read my blog post from that day.  It also shows the old Eternal Flame and my family connection.

We ascended the stairs, stopping at the first landing to look down on the top of the Flame Room.

On the next level was the playing room.  The 35 bells were played on this keyboard via a pneumatic system. The keyboard was considered the easiest way for the bells to be played.  

The bells remain stationary and the clappers in the centre are hit against them. This allows for a range of tones to be achieved when playing.  

There were regular recitals, one being at 1 o’clock on each Saturday, which I remember well, as it can be heard all over the centre of town.  This photo shows Hecter Lupp, one of the former carillonists, carrying out maintenance on the bells.  He was an institution in town, being the local piano tuner.

The keyboard was decommissioned in the 1980s and a computerised system to play was installed.  This did not use the clappers on the inside of the bells, rather there were clappers that hit the outside of the bell.  The Carillon now chimes every quarter hour with the Westminster Chimes and some tunes are played, but there is no subtlety to the sound like could be played on the keyboard.

Looking out the window to the Courthouse, overlooking the iceskating rink set up for the Winter Festival.

Back to the history….

Since about the year 2000 there has been another fundraising effort to finally complete the Carillon to its original specifications.  This would involve a further twelve bells being installed, and most importantly, the installation of a Clavier, which is the traditional way to play a Carillon.

I was eating my lunch in the park one day as they were installing the final twelve bells by crane, which was fun to watch.  These bells are collectively known as the “Peace Bells”. There are now 47 bells in the bell chamber.

Another feature not initially included was an honour roll for the fallen in World War 1.  This was finally added in 2018, on the centenary of the end of that war.

Back to the tour…..

Up a further flight of stairs we reached the Clavier Room.  So, what is a clavier?  It’s a rather unusual instrument. 

It is connected to each bell by wires and once again the bells are played by the clapper inside the bells.  Each wooden peg is like a piano keyboard with the top row being like the black keys on a traditional keyboard.  The pegs are played by hitting them with your fist.  Like an organ, there are also foot pegs.  The effort required to play each bell is related to the size and weight of the bell.  The lower notes have quite large bells and require a lot of effort, especially if being played loudly.  It is a really specialised skill.  We currently have three carillonists, with two more in training.  They have been trained by the carillonists from Sydney and Canberra.  There is a second clavier located at our Conservatorium of Music, which is used for practice, but does not give the true feel of the weight of the bells. 

Jennifer Roberts gave us recital of a variety of pieces.  She was wonderful to watch and it was really surprising how physical it was to play some pieces.  It was also apparent that playing with the clavier can give so much more variety and quality to the playing.

The computerised system remains in place, still chiming on the quarter hour.

The recital was the finale of a truly interesting tour.  One we felt privileged to participate in.  I have to thank the Friends of the Carillon for providing the opportunity to get a further insight into this wonderful building.  We are so fortunate to have such a landmark in our city.

One final picture of the Carillon.  See that little plaque to the right of the door….

It is to commemorate 60 years from the end of World War Two.  My Dad was one of the three ex prisoners of war who unveiled it on 15 August 2005.   This photo was taken shortly afterwards.