Reginald Robert John Dempster (30 August 1885 – 13 May 1942) was a church organist and choirmaster in South Australia.
This appointment was attended by controversy, as Dempster was appointed without any competitive evaluation, and eminent musicians John Horner, Frederic Finlay and W. Lawrence Haggitt, who had all applied, signed a public letter airing their sense of injustice, and implying he was a poor choice.
The fact that Dempster would receive a salary where previously it was an honorary position, made the choice additionally problematic.
He was in March 1937 foundation conductor of the Adelaide Philharmonic Choir, supported by the Australian Broadcasting Commission radio station 5CL and gave its first public concert in October 1937.
[9] He was appointed choirmaster and organist at Flinders Street Baptist Church in May 1938, where he served until early in 1942, when forced by ill health to retire.