FOUNTAINS
Creswell Gardens Fountain
Two fountains originally erected in front of the Jubilee Exhibition Building, formerly at North
Terrace opposite Pulteney Street, were handed over by the South Australian Government to the City Council in 1908, one to be erected in North Adelaide and the other in South Adelaide. These fountains were constructed in the late Victorian era and are examples of the domestic fountain of the period.
The larger of the two is situated in Creswell Gardens, between King William Road and the Adelaide oval. It operates from 8am until 4pm each day. Water from a spray at the top
of a fountain overflows from the top basin into the central bowl falling then into the main basin
at ground level. Six jets inside the ground level pool spray water into the central basin.
The other of the two may be seen at Osmond Gardens.
Osmond Gardens Fountain
Two fountains were handed over to the City Council by the State Government. The smaller of the two was erected in Osmond Gardens near South Terrace. It has subsequently been moved to Rundle Mall Fountain.
Rundle Mall Fountain
Two fountains were originally erected in front of the Jubilee Exhibition Building, formerly at North Terrace opposite Pulteney Street, they were handed over by the South Australian Government to the City Council in
1908, one to be erected in North Adelaide and the other in South Adelaide.
These fountains were constructed in the late Victorian era and are
examples of the domestic fountains of the period.
The larger of the two is in Creswell Gardens and the smaller was originally moved from Osmond Gardens to Rundle Mall, at the junction of Gawler Place and Rundle Mall. It was subsequently moved further down the mall, and is now adjacent to the entrance to the Adelaide Arcade. The water effect of this fountain consists solely of the spray from the top of the fountain overflowing to the central bowl, finally dropping into the ground level basin. This fountain is pictured above.
Rymill Park Fountain
On 19 December 1966, the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor (Mr W.L. Bridgland) set in
operation a new fountain at Rymill Park in the East Park Lands.
The water from the nine central jets rises vertically to a height of 5 m. This display is
surrounded by two other rings of jets, 96 of which spray inwards to the bottom of the vertical
jets and 150 towards the outer edge of the basin.
The fountain components were imported from Italy, the 9 m wide basin being designed and
constructed locally. Twenty-two 150 watt. floodlights illuminate the fountain from underwater
with white light.
The hours of operation of the fountain are 11am to 11pm each day. The fountain is lit from sunset until 11pm.
Torrens Lake Fountains
West of Adelaide Bridge
A fountain was placed in Torrens Lake, west of the Adelaide Bridge, as a permanent reminder of the first visit to South Australia by a reigning Monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh, in 1954.
This fountain, which was put into operation at the precise moment Her Majesty alighted from
her aircraft at Parafield, consists of 16 jets of water 10.6 m with a central jet of 21 m. It is floodlit at night with red, blue, green and amber lights, arranged to give eight colour changes. The fountain operates throughout the year, the usual hours of operation being from 6pm to 11pm on Mondays to Fridays and from noon until 11pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
East of Weir Restaurant
The second fountain operating in Torrens Lake was installed some 82 m east of the Weir Restaurant in 1961. Three vertical jets of water are projected from this fountain, rising to a height of 22 m. The structure is supported on a pile foundation and is operated by an electrically driven pump which is used primarily in connection with the watering of the Municipal Golf Links. This fountain operates on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 6pm until 10pm when it is floodlit, and on Sundays from 2pm until 6pm.
Victoria Square Fountain
The Victoria Square Fountain was set in operation by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh at 4pm on Tuesday, 28 May 1968, to commemorate the visit to Adelaide in 1963 of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. The fountain is situated in the northern half of Victoria Square between Flinders-Franklin Streets and Wakefield-Grote Streets.
The theme of the fountain is the three rivers from which Adelaide draws its water: the Murray, the Torrens and the Onkaparinga. This has resulted in a three sided design in a hexagonal pool having an overall width of 18 metres. Unpolished Angaston marble has been used for the outside and capping of the outer basin wall.
There are three Harcourt granite pedestals radially supporting the top aluminium basin. Surrounding the base of these piers is an inner basin, faced with Harcourt-granite and capped
with cast aluminium. The floor of the large basin is finished with mosaic tiles.
White paving, ornamented along the margins with a key pattern in Mintaro slate, approaches and encircles the whole fountain. The principal colour of the fountain is white and it is illuminated with white light when the sun sets.
The massive column in the centre of the fountain is 3.25 m tall and this supports a three-pointed sculptured bowl of cast aluminium, the shape of which suggests a crown. This bowl reaches some 4.6 m above ground level
so that the water display, with its tall central jet and three supporters,
can be viewed down the long vista of King William Street from the north and
the south.
Three further pieces of sculpture are seated on a step on each of the piers; the sculpture is large in keeping with the proportions of the whole basin and its setting in the Square. Each aluminium figure represents one of the rivers - on the north-western side a male Aborigine holding an ibis is the Murray; the other two statues, female and not Aboriginal, depict on the south side the Torrens, a woman with a heron. Each of the birds produces a stream from its beak and these jets are supported by wide wings of water from jets concealed in the piers.
Jets of water rise some 4.6 m or more into the air through the central basin, giving a total height of at least 9 m. The crowning basin overflows in three cascades into the three mid-level basins between the piers, and this in turn overflows in a fringe of 26 streams from each of the three sections into the main pool.
In the crowning basin there are four large jets including the top dominant jet. Twenty-seven
other jets operate from the central pedestal and there are three smaller jets in the main large
pool. The total number of jets when the fountain is operating fully is 34.
In addition, with the three overflows from the upper basin and 78 castellated overflow streams
into the lower pool, there are 81 further falls of water animating the fountain.
The sculptor was Mr John S Dowie, a South Australian, under whose supervision the work was executed. The Corporation of the City of Adelaide provided the site, carried out the detailed design and preliminary preparations, the paving surrounding the fountain, the pumphouse,
arranged the installation of the lighting effects and the associated works except for the contract items. The construction of the reinforced concrete basin of the fountain was carried out by Mosaic Flooring Company Pty. Ltd. S.D. Tillett Memorials Pty. Ltd. supplied and fixed the granite and marble components of the basin. The four aluminium sculptures were cast by Castalloy Limited, using a high silicon type aluminium alloy supplied by Alcoa of Australia Limited. The crowning aluminium bowl was cast in one piece 3.3 m across and weighs 1800 kg. The three statues weigh 227 kg each.
The fountain operates at full capacity between 8am and 11.30pm each Monday to
Saturday, inclusive, and from 10am to 10pm on Sundays. When strong winds prevail, the top major jet and, if necessary, the three other jets in the upper basin are omitted.
