Walter Hill Fountain

The Walter Hill Fountain, in the City Botanic Gardens, is a unique monument to the colonial botanist and original director of the gardens, Walter Hill. Stonemason John Petrie built the stone drinking fountain in 1867 using the designs of Queensland's first colonial architect, Charles Tiffin. It was constructed using Helidon sandstone and marble from Gladstone.

The fountain commemorates the construction of the Enoggera Dam, which was engineered to provide drinking water for the growing city. It was the first ornamental drinking fountain in Queensland, and for many years functioned as such. The aim of Walter Hill was that all visitors to the Botanic Gardens would have access to pure drinking water. The original lions head through which the water funnelled still remain as features of the fountain. Located almost in the centre of the gardens, the fountain would have provided a focal point for those visitors as they perused the botanical delights.


I've just spent the past week travelling down through the eastern parts of Australia. Fortunately, as I went inland we had quite a lot of rain during my travels, and this meant that finally some of the drought stricken areas of the country have had some relief, and their was greenery through most of New South Wales. Posting on this fountain has made me reflect on how the provision of water, one of the basic necessities of life, has been made so difficult for our city over the past few years. Here's hoping we get more rain into our catchments so we can be spared further drought restrictions in the future.

Cheers, I Love Brisbane, Wes.

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