Organ

A pipe organ stands at one end of the chapel at Waterfall Sanatorium, its brass and zinc front pipes still in place, its timber casework still standing. The organ is a moderately sized instrument, two manuals visible at the console, with twelve to fifteen ranks of pipes behind. The casework is dark stained timber, ornamented with carved panels at the corners. The chapel around it is small, perhaps thirty seats, with timber pews and a low altar. The light comes through stained-glass panels in the side walls. The colours are diffused; in the morning, the floor is patterned in warm yellow and red.

Most institutional medical facilities in Australia of the 1909 era included a chapel for patients, families, and staff. Waterfall's chapel was a single room within one of the ward blocks, used for daily services, weddings, and funerals. The organ was installed for accompanying hymns. After the sanatorium closed, the chapel was the last room to be locked up; weddings and small services continued there for some years after the wards were closed. The organ in this photograph is still operational in principle, but no organist has played it for at least two decades. The pipes are dust-coated. The bellows leak.