Wednesday, 8 May 2013

Hyde Park, John Baptist Fountain

The John Baptist Fountain stands in Hyde Park North, near the corner of Park Street and Elizabeth Street. John Baptist established the Baptist Gardens in Redfern, the first pleasure gardens which attracted visitors in the days before public parks. This fountain was originally installed there in the 1860s and was donated to the trustees of Hyde Park in 1888. It was moved during construction of the underground railway in 1920 and restored as a working fountain in this location in 2012.

12 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing the beautiful scenery and history.

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  2. I am really glad a 1860s fountain wasn't destroyed or lost. They took a longggggggg time to restore it, but all is well again :)

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    1. I had no idea this was even in the park until they started restoring it. Apparently it was in a garden bed and has only now been moved back into the open with a reconstructed basin.

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  3. it's wonderful that this fountain was restored. a fountain is my favorite spot in the park.

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  4. A very pretty scene!
    Have a great day!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

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  5. Explains why i have no memory of it. Baptist would be Baptist Street, too, I presume. The spouting fish are on the ARchibald Fountain too, are they not? There is another fountain in Redfern Park (which is Baptist related somehow), that they were restoring when I used to walk through it in 2009. This reminds me of it.

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    1. Apparently these are supposed to be dolphins. They are spouting turtles in the Archibald Fountain. Yes, there is another Baptist Fountain in Redfern Park which I have featured here before.

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  6. What a treasure trove of information, love this story.

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  7. Creative fountain shot for ODW ~ love how the trees seem to create an arch way look behind the fountain ~

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  8. Thanks for the information. So nice to learn many things from your shots.

    Visiting from Water World Wednesday
    Kim,USA

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