A HERITAGE contractor has been engaged to begin restoration works on Ararat’s Boer War Memorial Fountain.
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The contractor, Andrew Thorn visited the site recently, where he began the initial steps to restore broken and damaged ornaments on the fountain.
The fountain sits in the John Fox Gardens and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Database under the War Heritage Inventory.
The fountain was installed in 1905 and was initially planned to mark Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, but a councilor at the time suggested that it should also commemorate those of Ararat's volunteers who fought in the Boer War.
The restoration will require re-plumbing of the internal reticulation system, repair work to the griffins, dolphins and gargoyles, cleaning of the plaques and then re-painting.
Council estimated that the work will be completed after about 6 months.
“It will be great to see the fountain made operational and once again the centrepiece of the civic precinct,” Ararat Rural City mayor, Councillor Peter Beales said.
“The works will require careful heritage conservation methods.
“The contractor will be taking a cast of the upper cherub and bowl from the sister memorial fountain at Hamilton Botanic Gardens to replace the missing feature and return the fountain to it’s original sandstone colour.”
Council chief officer Dr Tim Harrison said although work had already begun, some of it will not be evident for a while.
“There’s got to be specialty fittings moulded, so a bit of work’s being done behind the scenes,” he said.
The restoration was not included in the Ararat Arts Precinct upgrade as it did not meet state or federal funding guidelines.
However, the project had received funding worth $55,000 from the federal government’s Building Better Fund – Infrastructure Projects stream.
It also received a donation from Ararat Community Enterprise worth $10,000 and council funded an additional $60,000, bringing the project’s total funding to $125,000.
The estimated budget was $125,400, which allowed for contingencies.