“NOT vandalised, just hospitalised!” a relieved Durban Botanic Gardens stalwart, Di Higginson Keath, quipped, as many botanic gardens’ regulars had noticed a glaring absence in the Victorian-style tableau of the Currie Memorial Fountain – one of the water carrier boys was missing.
Di was reacting to the news that the little chap had not been stolen, but had gone for restoration.
“What a relief,” she said.
An environmental education and specialist botanical guide, Di had discovered in mid-December that the charming – and practical – piece of ironmongery, comprising a lamp post, a drinking trough for animals and a fountain for members of the public, with two little boys pouring water from jars, was incomplete.
Durbanites will be happy to know will be back in place by the end of February.
The refurbishment is being carried out by the eThekwini Municipality’s urban design department and will include fixing the pump and filter system.
Erected in 1889, the monument, created in the Victorian era style, was funded by the townsfolk to thank the former councillor and mayor, HW Currie.
Out of his own pocket, Currie had supplied the funds to offset a crippling drought and a severe water shortage in Durban during 1878 by sinking an artesian well.
The site of the original Curries Fountain was located just adjacent to the Gardens, which had already been established.
Pipes were laid to supply water (50,000 gallons per day) to the stricken town.
Just over a decade later, to honour Currie, the memorial fountain with its trough and statues was set up at the intersection of West Street and Point Road (now Dr Pixley KaSeme Street and Mahatma Gandhi Road) near the beachfront.
It was moved to the Gardens in 2005 as it was being vandalised in its initial city location.
Now home is but a stone’s throw from the original Curries Fountain site, which, during the Apartheid years, became a focus for protests against the Nationalist Government.
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The Currie Memorial Fountain is a much visited and fondly regarded ‘must’ on a walk around Durban Botanic Gardens.
You may have been lucky enough to have spotted the Metro Mounted Police Unit pass through the Gardens on their patrols for their ponies to drink at the fountain.
Time and the elements took their toll and the one little water carrier was feeling his age; he is now receiving specialist attention to de-rust him and to repair cracks in the cast iron. He’ll be back soon!
Said Jacqueline Machabeis, who walks daily with her furry friend, Balthazar: “I am happy to hear this. Besides being beautiful, the fountain dates back to another time and gives us a sense of Durban’s interesting, early history.”
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