Dateline: Saturday 16th March. 2024 Christchurch - Peacock Fountains & Atom Smashers

The following description is a summary of the Wikipedia entry for the Peacock Fountain at the entrance to the Christchurch Botanical Gardens.

The Peacock Fountain was bought by the Christchurch Beautifying Society from money bequeathed by John Thomas Peacock a trader, politician and philanthropist. The fountain was unveiled in 1911, moved to a new location some years later, and put into storage in 1949. After a $270,000 renovation, it was commissioned again in 1996, in its third location, just inside the gates and opposite what were some of the original buildings of Canterbury College, University of New Zealand.

Peacock bequeathed a substantial sum of money to the Christchurch Beautifying Association "for the purpose of beautifying the reserves and gardens in the City of Christchurch and improving the Avon River." Christchurch City Council commissioned a prefabricated fountain created at the Coalbrookdale Iron Works.

The fountain, unveiled in June 1911, was always controversial. The head of Canterbury School of Art,  Robert Herdman Smith, stated in a letter to the Press in 1911 that "it exhibited no more taste than the gaudy decoration used by travelling showmen to embellish their merry go-rounds."

Recurring maintenance problems led to the decision in 1949 to dismantle the fountain. It was put into storage in the 1980s. Of the 309 cast iron pieces that made up the fountain, many went missing over the years or deteriorated, so that 158 of them had to be re-cast. The restored fountain, with a new colour scheme (again controversial), was recommissioned on 26 May 1996. One letter to The Press claimed that the new colour scheme was "cause(ing) flu-like symptoms when looked upon."

The photo shows the current position of the Fountain opposite a complex of original Canterbury College, University of New Zealand buildings. Today this complex houses Canterbury Museum, a café and a cinema which belies its claim to fame as the place where Sir Earnest Rutherford (Born in New Zealand in1871) studied for his first degree in Physics. Rutherford has many discoveries to his name including being the first person to split the atom in Manchester in 1917.