"About Us"

The restoration of the 1890 Puget organ ranks amongst the most important organ projects in this country.

The restoration is important because of its world cultural heritage. It is the only Puget organ in Australia, and one of few Puget organs found outside France, and thus capable of playing the enormous French repertoire in the manner for which French composers wrote their music.

The organ was built in Toulouse in 1890 by Eugène Puget, whose father, Thèodore Puget, founded the
firm of Thèodore Puget Père et Fils in 1834. It is believed to have been a gift to The Society of the Sacred Heart Convent in Bordeaux. Certainly it was custom made for their Chapel, having the carved twin hearts at the apex of the façade, representing the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, the symbol of The Society.

Rescued from an uncertain future when the Religious of The Society of the Sacred Heart sent it from Bordeaux to Sydney in 1904 after closure and confiscation of their Convents, the organ was installed in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart Convent, Rose Bay, Sydney, and first played there in February, 1906.

In January, 2005, the organ was dismantled and sent to France for complete restoration. It has undergone its third rebuilding since its creation in Toulouse. Taking into account the distance it has travelled - Toulouse - Bordeaux - Sydney - France - Sydney, it most probably holds the record as the most travelled pipe organ in the world.

Under the direction of French Organ Consultant and Specialist Professor Michel Colin, the last incarnation of the Puget will see this important instrument not only returned to its original 1890 specification, but also sympathetically recreated to fit the space of Convent Architect John Horbury Hunt’s tribune in the beautiful Chapel.

The organ returned in January, 2009 and its installation is complete. Final work will be done in April, 2011 and a series of gala concerts will celebrate its homecoming.

The Puget Organ c.1946 - Kincoppal-Rose Bay School Archives