James Govenlock
(1918–1984)

James ‘Jim’ Govenlock was Organist and Director of Music of St Francis Xavier’s Catholic Cathedral, Adelaide, South Australia from 1949 until his death in 1984. He was one of the most acclaimed Australian liturgical organists of his generation.  

Jim Govenlock was born in 1918 and grew up in Adelaide. His first musical post, as a teenager, was as Organist of Wesley Methodist Church, Norwood, in suburban Adelaide. Later he moved to a position at Christ Church, North Adelaide.

Govenlock obtained a degree in music at the University of Adelaide, undertook war service with the army in Melbourne and after the war, with a scholarship, studied at the Royal College of Music in London. He won the prestigious Limpus Prize from the Royal College of Organists.  

In 1949 he succeeded his mentor Harold Wylde as Organist and Director of Music of St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, Adelaide and maintained an excellent choral standard. In 1968 he was appointed to a lectureship in music at the University of Adelaide.

For over thirty years Jim Govenlock was a significant figure in the musical life of Adelaide as a teacher and examiner. In 1963 he founded the Corinthian Singers. In 1977, for services to church music, he was made a Papal Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great.

Jim Govenlock died in 1984, soon after his retirement from the University of Adelaide.

He is remembered as a highly acclaimed organist, as a conductor, composer and influential teacher, and as a lively companion.