Southgate Fountain, Snowden Gardens

The Southgate Fountain was located in the Snowden Gardens on the south west side of the Princes Bridge. It was removed around 1976 for the construction of the Arts Centre Concert Hall, Hamer Hall and has not been seen since. This is a history of the fountain.

Postcard of the Southgate Fountain

Creator: John Engelander & Co. 

In May 1958, the City Development Association offered to build a four-pool fountain in the Snowden Gardens, with a cost of £20,000. The Age reported that The offer, said C.D.A. Secretary (Mr R.A. Gardner) was "to initiate a programme of fountain building in the hope that others will follow." In response Cr Brens, Chairman of the City Council Parks and Gardens Committee was reported as saying Whether Snowden Gardens is the right place for it or not, I am not sure. This area is used extensively by lunchtime crowds in fine weather. The fountain might be incorporated as part of the Wirth's Park development scheme (1). The National Gallery of Victoria is located in the Wirth's Park site (2).  

The June 13, 1958 edition of The Age reported that the some of the Councillors had inspected the proposed site for what was now noted to be only a three pool fountain, and that they would discuss the matter at the forthcoming Parks and Gardens Committee meeting. -

City councillors yesterday inspected the site of the proposed three-pool fountain in the Snowden Gardens, at the southern end of Princes Bridge.

City Development Association has offered to build the fountain, which would have 60-foot high jets of water, lit by coloured lights at night.....Cr W.  Brens said later that the fountain would not interfere with people who used the area for recreation at lunch time. He believed the design would be most suitable. 

The report continued - Under the C.D.A. plans a 10-foot wide plaza would be built level with the path leading to the pool, 60 feet in diameter. Two smaller overlapping pools would extend 120 feet towards the intersection of  Alkman Street and Riverside Avenue. (3)

In spite of the fountain being next to the Yarra River the water used would be mains water as as use of Yarra River water would involve extensive tunelling, and the salt content would rust the fountain equipment (4).  The Council  investigated the cost of running and maintaining the fountain which they estimated at £16 per week or £860 per annum (5). They finally accepted the offer in November 1958. 

In January 1959, the City Development Association invited the public to suggest names for the new fountain and hoped to call tenders soon for the fountain (6). In August 1959, it was reported that the fountain would be known as the Southgate Fountain. (7)

Another postcard of the Southgate Fountain, Princes Bridge and the Yarra River.

Creator: Murfett Pty Ltd.

The fountain was designed by Robin Boyd (8), even though interestingly his name was not listed in the few reports I could find of the fountain in The Age from 1958 and 1959. Construction began around mid-1959.

The construction of the Fountain

The Age, August 12, 1959, p. 12 from newspapers.com

The fountain was officially 'turned on' by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks, on November 1, 1959. The Age  reported that the fountain, which cost £23,000, was given to the City of Melbourne by an anonymous donor, described as a man who has a great love of Melbourne and desires to see its advancement. (9)

The same report had this description of the fountain - 
The water jets are automatically controlled. On a still day, time clock mechanisms cause the water to rise and fall in accordance with a regular, slow rhythm. As the wind rises, the higher jets are cut off until, in a gale, the curtains are reduced to a waterfall. The water falls into three cone-shaped bowls - the largest 60 feet in diameter, one below the other, on the sloping laws of Snowden Gardens. (10)

The official opening of the fountain by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks, 

on November 1, 1959.

The Age,  November 2, 1959, p. 3. newspapers.com

At the unveiling the hope Melbourne would develop into  a 'City of Fountains' was expressed by the  Chairman of the City Development Association, Mr R.F.G Fogarty.  Sadly, this fountain barely survived 25 years. In 1974, the City of Melbourne presented the Snowden Gardens to the State Government to build the Arts Centre Concert Hall (Hamer Hall). (11)

In December 1975, The Age  reported that the existing fountain in Snowden Gardens would be removed to the other side of the new plateau, beside the concert-hall complex of the centre (12).  The three acre garden 'plateau' was to provide a pedestrian link from the Snowden Gardens to the Arts Centre. This work was expected to commence in March 1976 and this is the likely date that the fountain was dismantled and put into storage, awaiting re-erection on the new site, which never happened. 

Footnotes
(1) The Age, May 26, 1958 p. 5
(2) Wirth's Park - https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00095b.htm
(3) The Age, June 18, 1958, p. 4.

(4) The Age, June 18, 1958, p. 4.

(5) The Age, November 6, 1958, p. 12.

(6) The Age, January 22, 1959, p. 3. 

(7) The Age, August 13, 1959, p.5

(8) Robin Boyd - https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/n312-image-showing-construction-of-southgate-fountain-in-snowden-gardens/

(9) The Age, November 2, 1959, p. 3.

(10) Ibid

(11)  The Age, March 14, 1974, p. 14

(12) The Age, December 24, 1975, p. 3.

Sources
I found the following reports on the fountain in The Age on newspapers.com. View them here

Snowden Gardens may lose fountain. The Age, May 26, 1958 p. 5

Crumbling Neptune must go overboard. The Age, June 5, 1958, p. 3
Fountain site seen. The Age, June 18, 1958, p. 4.
Fountain to cost £16 weekly to run. The Age, November 6, 1958, p. 12.
Ornamental fountain for Gardens. The Age, November 18, 1958, p.11.
Name sought for fountain. The Age, January 22, 1959, p. 3. 

Photograph of the framework of the fountain. The Age, August 12, 1959, p. 12
Council names City Fountain. The Age, August 13, 1959, p.5
More gift fountains a possibility, The Age, August 20, 1959, p. 12
Vice-Regal. The Age, November 2, 1959, p. 2.
Froth. The Age, November 2, 1959, p. 2.
Fountain turned on. The Age, November 2, 1959, p. 3.
Land for the People. The Age, March 14, 1974, p. 14
Arts Centre will get Garden link by Richard Goodwin - The Age, December 24, 1975, p. 3.

City of Melbourne City Collection has 12 photographs of the construction of Southgate Fountain https://citycollection.melbourne.vic.gov.au/

The mystery of the Stanford Fountain bluestone seats

In 1872, a fountain was erected near Parliament House in Spring Street in Melbourne. It is in a reserve which had been severed from the Parliamentary Reserve in 1863 as a site for the Burke and Wills statue, and is bounded by Spring Street, Macarthur Street and Carpentaria Place. Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills and their exploration party were the first explorers to cross the continent from south to north, leaving Melbourne on August 20, 1860 and reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria on February 9, 1861 - hence the name of Carpentaria Place. As we all know, they never made it back. A statue, by Charles Summers (1825 - 1878), was made to honour the men and erected, not in the reserve, but on the corner of Russell and Collins Street in April 1865.

This 1872 engraving shows the four bluestone seats, an integral part of the fountain design. There are some sources that say there were originally eight seats, I have addressed that issue further down.

Fountain designed and executed by William Stanford. Artist: Albert Charles Cooke. Engraver: Winston

Published in The Illustrated Australian News February 29, 1872.

State Library of Victoria Image IAN29/02/72/56

The fountain erected around May 1872 was of  bluestone and was created by William Stanford, who was a prisoner at Pentridge at the time. It had been at Pentridge, since it was completed, around September 1871.   The Illustrated Australian News of February 29, 1872 reported on the fountain and also had the illustration of it, above - This work has been designed and executed by Mr. William Stanford, who, for the last seventeen and a half years, has been an inmate of the penal establishment, having been therein immured from the early age of fifteen. It is, therefore, unnecessary to add that he is not merely self-taught in the usual acceptation of the term, but it is an actual fact that he literally never saw a work of art, worthy of the name, previous to his recent liberation from his long captivity. You can read the full article here and more of his life story in his obituary, here.  There are many reports of his life in various newspapers - they differ a bit  -  so here's one version - Stanford had been sentenced in 1853, when he was 15 (some reports say he was 13) for being involved in bushranging, then released and was caught stealing horses, so returned to gaol, but was pardoned by the Government  after he created the fountain and opened a monumental yard in Prahran. One article says that it is not surprising that William Stanford's talent was recognised by prison authorities and others. He was given lessons by Charles Summers (born in 1825), the first artist to practise sculpture in Melbourne, and creator of the Burke and Wills statue. (The Age, March 19, 1949) This makes it rather fitting that Stanford's fountain was located in the space designed for the Burke and Wills statue.

How great is this photo? It is titled, Fountain in the Parliament Reserve, Melbourne.  It is from the State Library of New South Wales collection and is dated c. 1872 -  c.1878,  so not long after the fountain was erected in Spring Street and you can see three of the bluestone seats that originally surrounded the fountain.

Views of Victoria and N.S.W., ca. 1872-1878 - photographic album, Bequeathed by D. S. Mitchell, 1907. State Library of New South Wales Image FL1059770   http://archival.sl.nsw.gov.au/Details/archive/110318895

On January 5, 1933 there was an article in The Herald (read it here) with the headline Mystery of the Missing Fountain Seats - 8 tons of basalt vanishes. The author, B.M.G. writes -
The graceful fountain carved by the prisoner Stanford was originally designed to be surrounded by four seats, each carved in bluestone in a decorative design conforming with the general scheme of the fountain. The seats were part of the whole; the fountain is incomplete without them. Stanford carried out the work on the four seats as part of his conception. They were completed and placed in position in the small open reserve in front of the Old Treasury buildings. They were there for many years, each separated from the coping of the fountain by a few feet. They were certainly in position in 1907.  Between that year and 1924 they had disappeared into thin air— a matter of six or eight tons of solid basalt. Nobody saw them being removed and nobody knows what became of them.

The next day The Herald had a follow up article - Officials of the Public Works Department are unable to throw any light on the mystery of the four stone seats which have been missing for years from around the fountain in the reserve beside the Old Treasury Building. The Public Works Department attends to the reserve.

The day after, on January 7, The Herald published this photograph with the head line There's no doubt the seats were there! But the Mystery remains unsolved.  Some of the article reads - The  mystery of the disappearance of four ponderous seats from the fountain between Parliament House and the Old Treasury Building has not been solved, but the accompanying photograph should remove any possible doubt that they really were there in years gone by.

The  Stanford Fountain photo published in The Herald on January 7, 1933 proving that the seats did exist.

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243190614

This article from January 7 mentions interviews with some 'older public servants' regarding the seats - Like the Secretary for Lands (Mr Fricke), many of the older public servants remember the seats distinctly. But they cannot fix the time when they last saw them any more definitely than that it was "many years ago." They stated that about 30 years ago, when the seats were in their position around the fountain, the garden was fenced. Later the fence was removed, and the lay-out of the garden was changed. It was possible that the rearrangement of the garden was carried out when the present King, as Duke of York, visited Australia. But they could not be certain of this.

The improvement of most of the gardens around the Treasury and Parliamentary buildings was carried out under the supervision of the late Mr Carlo Catani, who was then Chief Engineer for Public Works. The early records of this department might reveal some trace of the seats, but so far no examination of them has been made.

A Letter to the Editor on January 11, 1933  from Mr E. Wilson Dobbs of Caulfield, confirms they weren't there in 1927 and they are also not in a photograph published in Isaac Selby's "Memorial History of Melbourne" which was published in 1924.

In the end The Herald could offer no solution to the mystery of the bluestone seats. As  a matter of interest, one report (Weekly Times, May 4, 1872) says that the seats were in fact to have been pedestals for the reception of marble statues, but the Government refused to supply so expensive a material. How grand would that have been?

You can see one of the bluestone seats (or pedestals)  on the right. Beautiful photo, it's a shame the photographer is unknown, so we can't give them credit.

Stanford Fountain, 1910. 

Harold Paynting collection, State Library of Victoria Image H2009.60/52

I have included this photo as I have a crop of it below - it shows General Gordon's statue, with the Stanford Fountain, behind on the left - showing only four bluestone seats.

Spring St. from the Treasury steps Melbourne, c. 1891 - c. 1897. Photographer: J.W. Lindt

State Library of Victoria Image H2009.48/23

Was the fountain surrounded by four bluestone seats or eight bluestone seats? The Victorian Heritage Database entry on Gordon Reserve says that there was originally eight seats, but doesn't list any sources (read the report, here) The 1872 illustration looks like it had an octagonal base and according to The Illustrated Australian News of February 29, 1872  there were also eight drinking fountains, which form the principal ornaments of the lower basin: these are zinc castings of a complex character, consisting of eagles standing on shells, in the act of seizing lizards. So were there eight seats to match the eight eagles, which were cast by the talented Mr Stanford? If so, why do people only remember there being four seats in 1933? Had four already disappeared, pre-1907 when The Herald states the four seats were certainly in position? I find this unlikely, I believe there were only ever four seats, not eight. The photo from the 1870s, Fountain in the Parliament Reserve, Melbourne, only shows three seats, the fourth being obscured by the fountain; the photo from the 1890s - Spring St. from the Treasury steps (above, and with cropped version below) - clearly only shows four seats. Happy to be proven wrong, but where is the evidence that there were originally eight seats?

This photo from the 1890s, clearly shows only four bluestone seats surrounding the fountain, and I believe there were only ever four seats, not eight. See the original photo on the State Library of Victoria website, here.

Cropped  version of - Spring St. from the Treasury steps Melbourne, c. 1891 - c. 1897. Photographer: J.W. Lindt

State Library of Victoria Image H2009.48/23

Gordon Reserve was formally named in 1961. It also has also a statue by Hamo Thornycroft (erected in 1889) of Major-General Charles Gordon who died at Khartoum in 1885 and a statue of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon erected in 1932. This statue was done by Paul Montford, who also did the Carlo Catani bust at the foot of the Clock tower in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda. You can read Montford's entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, here. The poet's statue replaced the Eight Hours Day Memorial that was erected in 1890 and then moved to its current location intersection of Russell and Victoria Streets.  This information, and the information at the top of the post about the severance of the reserve for the Burke and Wills statue comes from Melbourne's Historic Public Gardens: a management and conservation guide by Rex Swanson. (City of Melbourne, 1984.)

The Victorian Heritage Database also lists two other items of significance in Gordon Reserve - a series The women's underground public toilet is one of a group of eleven such facilities built by the City of Melbourne between 1902 and 1939. Underground toilets were then thought to be more discreet than street level toilets, as they were out of direct public view. This group is now unique in Australia.  The other feature are the Canary Palms - The five Canary Island date palm trees that can now be found at the site were planted in the early 20th Century when the plantings were rationalised and the link fences were installed that delineate the site and cordon off the General Gordon Memorial. This coincides with the time that Carlo Catani worked on the Treasury Gardens (see here) and he was an advocate of palm trees, so it is possible that they were planted under his direction. The Victorian Heritage Database citation can be found, here.

This is the fountain taken in 1949. Photographer: Colin Caldwell.

State Library of Victoria Image  H84.276/1/4C

Trove list - I have created a short list of articles on Trove, on the missing seats and the Standford fountain, you can access it here. All the articles referenced here are on the list.

I originally posted this on my Carlo Catani blog, http://carlocatani.blogspot.com, but there is only a very tenuous connection to Carlo, the post is a  better fit on this blog.

Artesian Wells at Sale

I bought this wonderful postcard of the Artesian Well in Sale. It was posted May 21, 1909 and sent to Miss Vera Macfarlan of 223 Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and there is more about Vera at the end of this post. The postcard shows a woman and a little girl in a rather extravagant hat, with her equally well dressed doll. At first I thought these were two girls, but the one on the right has a ring on her wedding ring finger, so I think she is the mother of the little girl. Sadly, I don't know who these lovely people are but I hope they enjoyed their refreshing and health giving drink.

The search for an artesian water source to provide an economical and  consistent water supply was the subject of a report to the Victorian Parliament in April 1857, when the Victorian Geological Surveyor, Alfred R.C. Selwyn, presented his report (1) upon the economical adaptability of the system of Artesian Wells to Victoria, and to furnish a particular enumeration of the localities, if any, therein, in which by that system reasonable hope may be entertained of obtaining a plentiful supply of Fresh Water. You can read the report, here. The use of artesian water was dependent upon the extent of the underground supply, the purity of the water and the ease with which it could be obtained.
Mr Selwyn listed a number of areas where suitable conditions might possibly exist -
1. The Indented Heads and Lake Conneware district.
2. The north and north-eastern side of Western Port Bay.
3. Portions of the east side of Port Phillip Bay extending from Brighton to Point Nepean. 
4. Portions of the country lying between the east shore of Port Phillip Bay and the Koo-Wee-Rup or Great Swamp.
Many parts of Gippsland, and of the basin of the Murray, would also, I should imagine, be districts in which the requisite conditions might be found to exist.

It was over twenty years before the first artesian well was established in Australia and this was at Sale (2).  In March 1879 (3)  John Augustus Niemann (4) struck water at  a depth of sixty feet, near the Turf Hotel (5). The Turf Hotel was located on the south west corner York and  Dawson Streets (6). Mr Neimann  also  received a tender to sink a well at the intersection of Cunninghame and Raymond Streets (7) and at a comparatively small depth he struck a flow of artesian water and the necessary construction with pipes, stand trough and tanks only cost only £280/10/- (8).

In 1880 the Borough of Sale had Niemann put down a bore near the intersection of Raymond and Macalaister Streets. At  a depth of 190' water was struck and rose to 3' above the surface. Drilling continued to a depth of 231', at which point gushed from a pipe 43' in height. The cost of the bore was: for the well 175 pounds; adjusting surface and fence 5 pounds 16 shillings; for stand, horse, trough, four 400 gallon tanks, and pipes for channels and trough, cocks etc, 100 pounds. Total 280 pounds and 10 shillings (9).  A  good supply of water was thus secured, but in time the pipes corroded, the bores became choked and the wells were eventually closed down (10). Our postcard is of this well, located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets (11). The well was described as played out in an article in The Australasian in March 1912 (12).

Artesian Well in Sale. The building behind the well is the Presbyterian Church, which is on the corner of Raymond and Macaliaster Streets. Both these churches are now demolished and the exisiting building on the site was erected in 1956 (13).

Artesian Well in Sale. Photographer: Frederick Cornell. State Library of Victoria Image H87.16/31

The played out well on the corner of Raymond and Macaliaster Streets 

The Australasian March 2, 1912. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143327643#

In Sale, after this first and other successive wells, a fourth well was sunk near the Railway Yards -  During the year a School of Arts was opened in the upper rooms of the State School, the Victoria Park well commenced to gush its strong-smelling waters, and the enterprising Mr Luke had a well sunk opposite the railway station to supply waters to the public baths (14).  I believe this was in 1884 (15).

When 'The Vagabond', the journalist visited Sale in 1885 he wrote inter alia about the town's abundant supply of artesian water In the gutters there are streams of running water procured from an artesian well sunk by the municipality. Water was struck at a depth of 230ft., and there is now an ample supply. The large tanks in Macalister-street are always filled, from which the citizens can help themselves without stint. Two troughs are also kept brimming over, and the streets thence reticulated (16).

There were issues with artesian water and its use as a household water supply -  the smell, the fact that the bores sometimes brought up sand and this clogged up the pipes and the amount of chemicals in the water had a corrosive effect. Thus in 1888 a water tower was constructed in Sale which supplied the town with water from the Thompson River.  The water supply system and the water tower was designed by engineer, John Grainger (17). This water tower has recently been restored.

The establishment of the town water supply did not stop the construction of artesian wells and in 1905 another well was sunk  in Market Square. This one was not used for a town supply for, although it had a considerable medicinal value, it also carried a strong mineral smell (18). It was reported that this well had a flow of  a million gallons per day and the motive for making this fresh search for artesian water was to fill a swamp, which the drainage of the town ran into, and which in dry seasons was a menace to the health of the public as reported by all the medical men (19).

Artesian well in Market Square, Sale. 

Pictured: Mr. -Joseph Bowman (Supervisor). Mr. Hugh Jenkinson (Expert), Mr. F. A. Pim (Expert), C. Jacobs, M. Laughlan, Mr. K. Keighley (Expert Government Foreman).

Punch August 17, 1905 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/175412051

A sixth well was sunk in 1906 when the Government was induced by the  Council to sink a 238' bore in Victoria Park. To overcome the corrosion problem this bore was lined with Californian red pine. It cost 493 pounds and gave an initial flow of 86, 000 gallons an hour. For generations the overflow of this fountain, to which was attached an iron cup, was directed to the public baths and partly supplied Lake Guthridge (20). The Herald newspaper had a report on Sale - the progressive capital of Gippsland in April 1920 and it had this to say about the Victoria Park well -The present artesian well on the Victoria Park was sunk in April, 1906, by Governmental well experts, assisted by the Mines Department boring plant.... The flow at completion was 80,000 gallons, and after 14 years' running it now discharges 75,000 gallons per day...and is still continuing to flow very freely (21).  The well also supplied a swimming baths which had a year round temperature of 62 degrees Fahrenheit (22).

The Victoria Park well, 1912

The Australasian March 23, 1912  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143328730#

The Victoria Park well also filled the swimming baths. The John Grainger designed water tower can be seen behinds the baths.

The Australasian March 23, 1912  https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/143328730#

This is I believe the Victoria Park well. The photo is dated c. 1920.

Photographer: John E. Hoggard. State Library of Victoria Image H98.56/68

There is another aspect to this story of wells in Sale and that is the South African or Boer War Memorial fountain, the foundation stone for which was laid in October 1909 (23) on the south west corner of Macalister and Raymond Streets (24), the same intersection as the well in our post card. It was unveiled by Colonel Foxton on December 4, 1909 and the first drink was given to Mrs Walter Lyons, who had laid the foundation stone (25).  By 1912 the Memorial was in a neglected state and was later moved to a new location on the corner of Foster and York Streets (26).  There are also accounts of artesian wells in the surrounding area at Clydebank (27) however that is another story.

Before I finish I will show you the reverse of the post card - it was sent to Miss Vera Macfarlan of 223 Fitzroy Street in St Kilda. The short note says - Dear Vera, Coming home tomorrow afternoon train arrives at half past ten. Going to Sorrento Tuesday. Norman is a little better. Yours I.Macfarlan.  Vera was born in 1884 to David and Jane (nee Cooper) Macfarlan. She married Peter Francis Smith in 1916, whose wedding notice appears below.  She died in 1959.  She had a brother Norman, born in 1878, so I presume he is the Norman mentioned on the postcard (28). I haven't worked out who I. Macfarlan, who sent the card is.

Vera's wedding announcement to Peter Smith

The Argus February 12, 1916. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2109546

Trove book list
I have created a book list on Trove of articles relating to Artesian wells in Sale, access it here.

Notes
(1) I found out about the Selwyn report in Daley, Charles The Story of Gipplsand (Whitcombe and Tombs, 1960) He writes about it on page 116. Read the Selwyn report, here.
(2) First Artesian Well in Australia - this is reported in The Argus, January 3 1903 in an article by Professor Gregory Artesian Water in Victoria, see here. Professor Gregory say the bore was sunk in 1880. The 1928 Australian Year Book also uses this date. I believe the 1879 date is correct, see note (3).

Artesian Bores around Sale from Year Book Australia, No. 21, 1928, p. 854. 

There is quite a lengthy article on Artesian water in Australia. Access it here

(3) Green, O.S Sale: the early years and later (Southern Newspapers, 1976); p. 42. Mr Green cites the March 1879 date.
(4) John Augustus Niemann. Niemann was the son of John Heinrich Niemann and Margaret Osterman. John snr died in Bendigo at the age of 87 in 1886. The family arrived in Adelaide in 1846 from Germany. They moved to Victoria around 1851, where they operated a boarding house in Maldon and then moved to Bendigo in 1859. They had three sons and one daughter, Lucy. Lucy married Thomas Devine in 1858. Information from the Bendigo Advertiser of June 24, 1886, see here. In 1881, John Augustus Niemann went to South Australia to find sources of artesian water, see here.
(5) Green,  op. cit p. 43
(6) Green  op. cit., p. 147.  The Turf Hotel was demolished in the demolished in the early 1950s.
(7) Green,  op. cit p. 43
(8) Daley, Charles The Story of Gipplsand (Whitcombe and Tombs, 1960), p. 116
(9) Green, op. cit., pp 42, 43.
(10) Daley, op. cit p. 116
(11) I established that well pictured on the postcard was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets from this photo from the State Library of Victoria. It is the same well. The building in the background is the Sale Hotel, which was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets (see Sale Licencing Court hearing from 1884, here)

Artesian Well, Sale. It was located on the corner of Raymond and Macalister Streets.  

State Library of Victoria Image  a11411

(12) The Australasian March 2, 1912, see here. This article also has the Frederick Cornell photo and the postcard photo. The article calls it the first artesian well in Sale, I believe it was the second or third one, but that's neither here nor there.

The Australasian March 2, 1912 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article143327643

(13) You can see a photo of the Presbyterian Church in the booklet In pastures green: the story of the Presbyterian Church, Sale, Gippsland, Victoria by Robert Ingpen. It was published in 1954 and the Sate Library has  digitised it, read it here. The photo of the church is on page 29 of the PDF. The information about the 1956 church comes from Mr Green on page 87.
(14) Green,  op. cit p. 43
(15) Green,  op. cit p. 43
(16) The Australasian December 19, 1885, see here. Mr Green quotes 'The Vagabond' on page 43, that's how I found out the visit to Sale.
(17) Sale Water tower - the involvement of John Grainger was listed here. Information on John Grainger can be found here on Culture Victoria. Information and a photo of the restored Sale Water Tower is here.
(18) Green,  op. cit p. 43
(19) Punch August 17, 1905, see here.
(20) Green,  op. cit p. 45
(21) The Herald April 21, 1920, see here.
(22) The Australasian, March 23 1912, see here. 62 degrees Fahrenheit is about 16 degrees Celsius.
(23) Green,  op. cit p. 45. Also - Schmitt, David Remembering and Forgetting the Boer War: the campaign to erect a Boer War Memorial in Sale published in Gippsland Heritage Journal, No. 27, 2008 (Kapana Press).
(24) Green,  op. cit p. 45
(25) Green,  op. cit p. 45 and the Morwell Advertiser, December 10 1909, see here. Mrs Walter Lyon was the wife of the Mayor and she was responsible for raising the funds for the Memorial -  thanks to David Schmitt's article for this information.  Mrs Lyon (nee Elizabeth Ritchie) died in 1921 at the age of 61. You can read her obituary in the Gippsland Times of November 24, 1921, see here. She was an interesting woman.
(26) Schmitt, David Remembering and Forgetting the Boer War: the campaign to erect a Boer War Memorial in Sale published in Gippsland Heritage Journal, No. 27, 2008 (Kapana Press).
(27) Gippsland Times, March 14 1935 see here.
(28) Information from the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages Index and the Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.