Belcher Fountain Roundabout

The public drinking fountain known as the "Belcher Fountain" was presented to the people of Geelong in 1874 by the then town Mayor George Frederick Belcher. The fountain designed by Andrew Handyside and Co., is erected on a basalt stone base with a circular plan cast iron superstructure of five Corinthian columns supporting a classical entablature enhanced with delicate acroteria and surrounded by an urn and cupid. The design is derived from the 'Monument to Lysicrates" of antiquity. The structure is one of the finest civic monuments in Victoria and dominated the Western approach to Malop Street.

Geelong Regional Commission register

Historic Buildings Council Register

Brownhill, W. R. - A History of Geelong and Corio Bay, Wilke & Co., Melbourne, 1955, pp. 77.

Smith, James (ed) - Cyclopedia of Victoria, 3 Volumes. The Cyclopedia Co., Melbourne, 1903, Vol II pp. 435-436, Biography of GF Belcher.

Brown, P. L. - Belcher, George Frederick (1823-1909), Australian Dictionary of Biography, 6 Volumes, Melbourne University Press, Pike, Douglas (Ed), Volume 3, 1969, pp 131-32.

Investigator - Geelong Historical Society, Volume 6, 1971, p. 55, Vol 9, 1974, p77.

Belcher, C. F. - 'Genealogical Notes Relating to William Belcher of Kells (1703-1798) and his descendants' 1944. Copy in possession of .G F. Belcher at Lilydale, Batesford.

The diary of G. F. Belcher (1825-1909) is in the possession of the manuscript section of the Latrobe Library, Melbourne.

A search of the local newspapers of the day, may reveal more details of the origin of this sculpture.

Andrew Handyside & Co. - Works in Iron, Spon, London, 1868 for details of this work of this firm of iron founders.

Group

Parks, Gardens and Trees

Category

Fountain