Descendants of the esteemed Reverend George Wilkinson visited Melbourne’s earliest known memorial fountain at Williamstown on Monday, paying homage to a temperance advocate who lived at a time when the port was full of drunken sailors.
The Wilkinson Memorial Drinking Fountain, built in 1876, has been painstakingly restored to its original burgundy colour, after years of conjecture about whether it was originally white.
Muffie Borthwick, the Reverend’s great great grand-daughter, said her ancestor arrived in Australia in 1839 as an Anglican or Church of Ireland vicar and chaplain on a convict ship.
He was appointed vicar at Holy Trinity in 1859, remaining there until his death in 1875.
“He was amazing to his parishioners and was virtually a bit like the local doctor,” Mrs Borthwick said.
She said she was “really very thrilled” at the fountain’s restoration. After the Reverend’s death, more than 2000 people donated money to build the memorial in his honour.
Hobsons Bay mayor Peter Hemphill said about 12 months ago the council had engaged conservator Jude Schahinger to begin the fountain’s restoration.
“Since that point, she has used photographs and, in some cases, 140-year-old drawings to ensure the restoration is as close as possible to the original,” he said.
“The fountain speaks of Williamstown’s early years when sailors were regularly landing at the port and heading straight for the pubs.
“That was what the fountain was there for – to quench the sailor’s thirst and divert them from what were then fairly insalubrious establishments,” the mayor said.
