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    Westgarth Drinking Fountain, c. 1888, by Alexander McDonald & Co., courtesy of City of Melbourne.
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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.

Manufactured by Alexander McDonald & Co., this pink-granite fountain was presented to the people of Victoria by 1840s pioneer William Westgarth, when he returned to Melbourne to visit the Centennial Exhibition in 1888. It was removed from its original site around 1953, after which Giannarelli & Sons acquired it for their land at Merri Creek, Northcote. It was never erected at Northcote. Its composite parts were disassembled and later found around the creek with the Coburg Council. Giannarelli restored the work for temporary erection at one of main entrances, on Melbourne Avenue, to the 1988 Brisbane Expo. In 1993, it was then purchased from the company and returned to the Carlton Gardens.

City Of Melbourne