Remove from your active Pick list Save for later

Drinking Fountain outside Post Office, North Melbourne Town Hall

c 1970s - 1980's

Record details

Title:

Date of work:

c 1970s - 1980's

Search dates:

01 Jan 1974 - 31 Dec 1990

Reference number:

20235

Level of description:

Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)

Type of materials:

Graphic materials

Part of:

Sub-collection: North Melbourne and West Melbourne (HC_NORTH)

Access restrictions:

Unrestrictedlibrary owns image (image not on public access)

Use restrictions:

Unrestricted

General notes:

Drinking fountain on Errol St, in front of North Melbourne Town Hall and Post Office.Notes; A woman can be seen entering the scene from the left, possibly bemused by the photographer and their undertaking. The detail of the fountain is unclear, due to the distance in which the photo is being taken. This photo may have been taken shortly after the fountain's relocation.In 1877, Thomas Henderson (1822-1907) presented the fountain to the people of Hotham (now North Melbourne) to mark the end of his term as mayor. Designed by Walter MacFarlane (1817-1885) and cast by his prominent Glaswegian Saracen Foundry, it has an imposing circular canopy richly decorated with cast-iron lacework. The fountain was originally sited in the roadway at the intersection of Errol and Queensberry Streets, but was moved in 1889 to allow for the construction of the new cable-tram tracks. In 1917, it was moved to the footpath, but without its bluestone steps and iron railings. In 1972, a vehicle collided with the fountain, damaging its wonderful canopy. Consequently, the following year it was moved to its current and safer location outside the Post office. Prior to the mid-1960s, the fountain's drinking spout was replaced with a modern Danks 'bubbler', but in 2001 a duplicate of the original was created - including the small figure of a kangaroo - based on MacFarlane's original drawings and on moulds from similar fountains.

Names:

Henderson, Thomas (1822 - 1907)MacFarlane, Walter (1817 - 1885)

Topics: