Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ

[a] When Sydney's City Council decided to commission the organ, they called on a small group of experts to formulate a process for achieving a transparent and defensible decision on supplier and installer.

The ultimate selection of Hill and Son may have been a foregone conclusion despite their higher price, as they had supplied and installed instruments for the Town Halls of Adelaide and Melbourne, and also St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.

Several modifications suggested by the company were approved, and a new requirement added: that the organist's console should be situated at ground level, despite the additional expense and complexity.

[14] Sharp dissented from the majority decision on the grounds that (1) the Hill organ was too large for the Centennial Hall, and (2) that it would be difficult and expensive to find an organist capable of matching its complexity.

[18] When Best returned to England, Rea gave a number of recitals at the Town Hall, and supervised access to the huge instrument until the appointment of Wiegand as City Organist in 1891.