The Frazer Fountain in Hyde Park South is a Gothic-style Pyrmont sandstone drinking fountain presented to the citizens of Sydney by merchant, philanthropist and MLC John Frazer. City Architect Thomas M. Sapsford designed the canopy; Mittagong sculptor Lawrence Beveridge carved the stonework. It was the first of two Frazer fountains — this Gothic example for Hyde Park (inscriptions and City of Sydney date it to the 1881–82 mayoralty of John Hardie) and an Italian Renaissance twin erected in 1884 on St Mary’s / Prince Albert Road near the Domain.
Originally placed at the south-east of Hyde Park (near today’s Whitlam Square / Emden Gun site), the fountain was moved in 1917 to make way for the Emden Gun and moved again in 1934 to its present position opposite Sydney Grammar School on College Street. During the 1934 relocation the original taps and communal drinking cups were replaced with a bubbler, reflecting changing hygiene standards. Inscriptions record Frazer’s gift and credit Sapsford and Beveridge.
The John Frazer Public Fountain in Sydney’s Hyde Park commemorates John Frazer, an Irish-born businessman and philanthropist. Its Victorian-era design reflects the public drinking fountains installed in Sydney’s parks in the late nineteenth century.
John Frazer Public Fountain - Hyde Park- New South Wales
