Adelaide’s Fountains: In the City of Adelaide region of South Australia

They add a splash of silvery charm to every city - for lovers and lunchers, for kids, photographers and shoppers. We all enjoy a fountain. Where, then, are the squirting and spraying devices that help define our capital?

On our fountain hunt, we are going to find that they were all the go in the swinging sixties. The multi-jet marble centre piece of the Museum forecourt on North Terrace was installed in 1965. It was presented by his family for the memory of Sir John Lavington-Bonython, owner of the Advertiser and a city councillor for more than forty years (during which time he wore the Mayoral robes in five terms). His father’s generosity marked the terrace as a Bonython boulevard, with great gifts to build Bonython Hall for the University of Adelaide and to complete Parliament House. With the impending upgrade of the pedestrian side of North Terrace, there was talk of banishing it, but it will now probably migrate northwards few metres into the quadrangle with a change in pool-shape. Make that a definite maybe.

Our search now takes us to the edge of the city square-mile. There is a very formal water-play fountain that has been in place for a quarter-century, but where exactly? By contrast there is a devilish portrayal in bronze of the mythical shepherd god, Pan, coming up for his fortieth birthday in Veale Gardens on South Terrace. City Councilors talked of wanting it to be ‘like fountains you see in Vienna’ whether Adelaide’s evergreen sculptor John Dowie delivered is for you to judge, but it certainly sits in a rose garden that at the right time of the year, is hard to top anywhere.

If our next example along South Terrace looks like a gentle spring bubbling from a rock, that’s the very idea. It is an essential element in a formal Japanese garden design like the Himeji Garden, symbolising our sister-city link with the medieval castle town in Japan.

And our very formal fountain? It is an almost last section of Rymill Park, just up from the East End café quarter. All the squirty bits were imported from Italy in 1966 by the city fathers, and more than 250 jets make up the circular show. The 10:00am switch-on daily, however, means the morning traffic regulars miss a soothing sight.

A very Victorian cast-iron fountain makes a pretty complement to the ornate 1880’s grandeur of the Adelaide Arcade façade. It was manufactured in that era by Handyside and Co in the UK, and the Rundle Mall wouldn’t be the same without it.

Mind you, this is a well-travelled water spout. It has been in its current spot since1996, and before that it was just down the way at the Gawler Place intersection where it became the centre piece for the gala opening of the mall in 1976. 10,000 onlookers saw it flow with champagne as the Premier, Don Dunstan, did the declaration and the band played on.

That’s two locations, with two more to go! Before that our ornately-cast friend was in the south parklands near Glen Osmond Road. But its original setting was far more spectacular. It was one of two - “the Twins” - in front of the enormous, domed Exhibition Building on North Terrace almost opposite where Pulteney St ends. Built to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, it first housed an expo of colonial riches, produce and achievement that ran for six months. The building was demolished in 1961, but the fountains had been moved a half-century earlier.

The other “twin” is actually much taller, and it sits in Creswell Gardens in front of Adelaide Oval. Topped by a Grecian maiden, it trickles daily from 8 till 6.

In a quest for any city’s fountains, it pays to head for its central square or park. The idea for a fountain in our focal green-space, Victoria Square, goes back to the 1850s, but it took 120 years to raise it. It is our second Royal fountain (the first is our highest water jet display complete with multi-coloured lighting in the Torrens Lake near the City Bridge). The arrival of the major construction in Victoria Square saw a radical alteration of the old Queen’s patch to make way for Queen Elizabeth II’s monument commemorating her 1963 visit. The Duke of Edinbough made a special call back to switch it on five years later.

The sculptor and designer was the prolific public statue-provider, John Dowie. Adelaide’s definitive fountain is about the state’s three rivers, and so a stylised aboriginal man holding a winged ibis represents the Murray, a European woman and a heron became the Onkaparinga, and another holds a swan for the Torrens. John Dowie has stressed that it is not about aboriginal dreamtime stories. Next time you sit on the marble ledge to its surrounding hexagonal pool, a few details to ponder…the crowning cast aluminium triangular bowl weighs nearly two tonnes and if you count all the water jets emerging from the angular structure you should get to 34.

When he pressed the button, the Duke said, “although there is not material advantage in having a fountain, it will give future citizens a great deal of pleasure, and no doubt a great deal to argue about”. Was he stirring the waters a little?

There would be more fountains in the city - in the other squares, along North Terrace and through North Adelaide - if a flash of enthusiasm for the 1960s city councillors hadn’t dribbled into oblivion. Meanwhile, while we await the next, take your pleasure in Adelaide’s fountains. If you require further information please email info@postcards.sa.com.au