Go back in time to the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Fountain
We acquire a glimpse back at a misplaced but not neglected Brisbane landmark — The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Fountain — however the set up of a fountain in the Brisbane River in entrance of the Queensland Art Gallery was not part of the initial programs for the Queensland Cultural Centre.
When the Queensland Governing administration turned knowledgeable that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was to go to the point out in 1977 as component of her Jubilee celebrations, the Government was keen to have her take a look at the Cultural Centre internet site even though only preliminary web site functions would have been finished.
Queensland Cultural Centre model
It was considered that the Queen would be reluctant to just lay a basis stone at the web site of the foreseeable future artwork gallery, so Cultural Centre architect Robin Gibson proposed a substantial fountain in the river in time for the Queen’s visit. Queen Elizabeth II activated the Jubilee Fountain on 11 March 1977 and laid the Basis Stone prior to a group of formal attendees and the general public, surrounded by a flotilla of satisfaction craft.
The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Fountain celebrations
Silver Jubilee Fountain
The Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Fountain was intended as a tetrahedron, a pyramid of a few triangles of equal proportions, that sat above the water line with 30 significant hidden pipes that shot water large into the air, and at night it lit up the metropolis skyline with far more than 90 lights.
The Jubilee Fountain turned a Brisbane landmark and marked the situation of the upcoming everlasting house of the Queensland Artwork Gallery until eventually its opening some five decades later. The relationship of the Brisbane River to the Gallery was strengthened with h2o things inside of its interior, furnishing both equally a actual physical link and serving as a parallel reflection of the river. When the Gallery opened at South Financial institution on 21 June 1982, the most prominent and hanging function of the inside was its central Watermall, a fantastic companion to the exterior river fountain.
The Watermall also extended over and above the Gallery’s inside from 5 cast bronze Pelicans by Queensland sculptors Leonard and Kathleen Shillam from the japanese-facet to the Dandelion Fountains designed by innovative fountain designer Robert Woodward (regarded for his fountain at Kings Cross in Sydney) as a result of to the Gallery’s Sculpture Courtyard pond and waterfall to the west.
The Fountain malfunctioned frequently, the pumps having to not only contend with the river’s tidal estuary and brackish water, but the sand and mud silt flowing through the river. Regrettably Brisbane’s distinctive landmark in entrance of the Queensland Artwork Gallery was only loved for an additional three yrs right after the Gallery’s opening right before it was decommissioned in 1985.
DELVE Deeper: The heritage of the Queensland Art Gallery
https://www.youtube.com/enjoy?v=sVWjlOvWKAw
Added research and supplementary content by Elliott Murray, Senior Electronic Marketing and advertising Officer, QAGOMA, sourced from the QAGOMA Exploration Library Exclusive Collections.
Featured graphic: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for the duration of the Silver Jubilee stop by which marked the completion of the preliminary development of the web-site, 11 March 1977 / Impression courtesy: Sunday Mail, Brisbane
#QAGOMA
