Little trace remains of the early drinking fountains of Sydney.
Many have disappeared from view, making way for street-widening,
city improvements, and for newer more hygienic water receptacles.
Their presence is recorded only in old photographs, newspaper reports
and nineteenth century council documents.
Images
Fountain
in Macquarie Place
In 1848 Joseph Fowles recorded the streetscapes of Sydney
in a series of drawings. These were published all together
in one volume -- Sydney in 1848. Fowles’ drawings
provide a remarkable snapshot of Sydney as a Georgian
town, capturing the look of the city in an era before
photography. Here he documents the Grecian temple-like
drinking fountain in Macquarie Place. It was designed
by Colonial Architect, Francis Greenway, c. 1818. (City
of Sydney Archives, SRC 994.41/LR)
Bent
Street Fountain
This octagonal stone fountain was located in Bent Street
at the corner of O’Connell Street. It was built
by order of Governor Macquarie and is similar in scale
and design to the fountain in Macquarie Place. The drinking
fountain drew water from the fresh spring that gave Spring
Street its name. By 1816 it had been improved with the
addition of a larger cistern and pump, allowing the ‘largest
of vessels’ to be filled ‘without delay’.
The fountain was removed in 1905 to make way for the new
electric trams. Here it can be seen standing in the street
opposite the Australian Club House. ( ‘A
former Sydney landmark: the Bent-Street fountain’,
Sydney Morning Herald, 5 March 1932.)
Iron
pillar fountain
This iron pillar drinking fountain was located in Loftus
Street beside Customs House, and captured on film in the
1930s. A young school boy looks on curiously while staff
from the Cleansing Department takes the photo. The inscription
cast into the urn records its origins: ‘1858 Williams
Mayor’. John Williams was the Crown Solicitor for
NSW, 1858-1891 and was Mayor of Sydney in 1858. (City
of Sydney Archives, CRS 238/76)
1858
to 1954
The iron pillar drinking fountain was the nineteenth century
equivalent of today’s utilitarian stand-alone bubbler.
It is uncertain exactly how many of these fountains dotted
the city, however in 1891 a maintenance contract recorded
a total of 36 Class A drinking fountains. Class A included
ordinary water posts, iron pillar fountains, and Jennings’
patent pillar fountains, with dog-troughs. This photograph
shows the iron pillar drinking fountain in Loftus Street
in 1954, nearly 100 years after it was erected. It has
since been removed. (City of Sydney Archives,
CRS 65/2022; SRC Photographic Files – Loftus Street,
CRS 268/58)
The
Fountains of Sydney, 1913
The Evening News ran an article about ‘The
Fountains of Sydney’ in 1913. It was accompanied
by photographs showing six ornamental drinking fountains
in the city.
Clockwise from top left: Frazer Fountain,
Prince Albert Road; Lady drinking at a fountain; Frazer
Fountain, Hyde Park at the Oxford Street entrance; Terracotta
and sandstone drinking fountain, Fig Tree Avenue, the
Domain near the Main Gate to the Royal Botanic Gardens;
Levy fountain, Royal Botanic Gardens; Drinking fountain
in the Palm Grove, Royal Botanic Gardens; Comrie Memorial
Fountain, Queens Square. Centre: Rebecca at the Well,
Royal Botanic Gardens.
Looks can be deceiving, as the Evening News
explained: ‘The reader might be led to suppose, from
the number of illustrations accompanying this article, that
Sydney is a City of Fountains. ... As a matter of fact, Sydney,
though one of the most prosperous cities in the world, whose
natural features make it agreeably adaptable to artistic treatment,
is far behind the great centres of Europe and America, in
this form of artistic architecture.’
In 1913 there were 60 drinking fountains in the city. While some
– like those in the illustrations -- had ‘artistic pretensions’,
most were of the ‘modest, utilitarian type’. It was
reported that the council spent a substantial sum maintaining the
fountains and keeping them fitted with drinking cups and taps.
‘Unscrupulous persons keep on stealing them as
fast as they are replaced. For this reason it has been found
expedient, on occasions, to substitute jam tins for drinking
cups; they may not be so nice to look at or to drink out of,
but one comparatively flimsy jam tin will outlive a gross
of strong enamelled cups.’
(City of Sydney Archives, Town Clerk’s
Newspaper Clippings: ‘The Fountains of Sydney’,
Evening News, 28 June 1913)
Drinking
Fountains, 1933
In 1933 the City Engineer compiled a list of fountains,
noting their origin and type, and appended two pages of
photographs to his report. These photographs illustrate
the range of fountains in the city in 1933. Note that
virtually all of the ‘ornamental’ fountains
were also drinking fountains, and that many of them had
commemorative or memorial functions. The Council resolved
on 20 February 1934 to preserve and maintain the ornamental
fountains existing in various parts of the city.
(City of Sydney Archives, CRS 34/ 162/34)
