Fountains & Water Features - Part I

Excerpts from the eMelbourne - The City of Melbourne Encyclopedia Online

French Fountain

Artist unknown
Bronze fountain with granite plinth
c. 1880
Carlton Gardens, Nicholson Street entrance

During Melbourne's International Exhibition of 1880, the French Fountain formed the centrepiece of the exhibition's fernery. It was later transferred to a flowerbed at the eastern entrance to the Royal Exhibition Building. An elegant work, the bronze fountain features three youths, each supporting a dolphin, above which rests a cupped scallop shell. The fountain forms the centrepiece of a round garden bed, and its waters flow into the large, concrete pool in which it sits.

Westgarth Drinking Fountain

Alexander McDonald & Co.
Aberdeen pink granite and bronze drinking fountain
c. 1888
Carlton Gardens, Nicholson Street entrance

This tiered drinking fountain has two cast-bronze drinking spouts, each taking the form of an emu. It has two embracing kangaroos surmounting the drinking troughs, which in turn are surmounted by a finial-like bronze and glass light.

Hochgurtel Fountain

Josef Hochgurtel
Portland cement fountain
1880
Carlton Gardens

The colossal fountain stands some ten metres high on the south side of the Royal Exhibition Building, outside the Great Hall. It was constructed for the first of Melbourne's two grand international world fairs. The fountain's visual elements were designed to display the young colony's confidence and advancement, simultaneously signalling the purpose of world fairs to display the produce and industry of nations. At the central level of the fountain, four youths (representing a young and vibrant colony) dance below symbols of the arts, science, commerce and industry; for example, musical instruments, a telescope, sailing ship, steam engine and globe of the world. Above this are images of Victoria's indigenous flora and fauna, and a boy with a clamshell. Holding all of this aloft are four merpeople rising up from the waters of the lower pool. Built during Victoria's boom years, the fountain's spouting water, it was thought, would demonstrate the power and success of the recently established Yan Yean project, which brought potable water to the city. On opening day, however, the pressure was too poor to affect much more than a spurt from atop of the grand edifice.

Don't forget to click the pictures for a larger view!