When wet, this spherical fountain is as reflective as glass.
I’ve always loved this spherical fountain in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, but had no idea it was known as the Sensory Fountain until I looked it up online for this post.
The whole fountain, sheeted with water and as reflective as a mirror ball. I’m the small spec in the middle, between two white shrubs.
“A spherical fountain designed to be touched, seen and heard — water begins to flow as you approach. Designed for the Herb Garden in 1994 by Victorian artist Tim Jones and made by Dave Mune at the Art Foundry in Victoria. The fountain is surrounded by a bronze ring of herbs drawn by Gardens’ illustrator Marion Westmacott. Donated by the Australian Bank Ltd to commemorate their 10th anniversary and the 175th anniversary of the Royal Botanic Gardens.” source
The water has just begun to burble from the top and is flowing along the sphere.
November’s fountain challenge theme is Typical for your Region, but I’ve morphed it into a joint effort with December’s theme of Whatever and am going with Sydney Whatever for two months.
HI Kaz – I love fountains like this. There is so much beauty in simplicity and the celebration of the materials used and by integrating the natural environment and reflecting the light, very effective.
Once again, I think, this does have an Australian story hidden inside:
Now let’s see, here’s the fountain’s narrative that Kaz forgot to share: this one is typical for Australia because it shows the globe. The water flowing down the globe symbolises the long, meandering and treacherous trip across the Ocean that settlers undertook as they made their way from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, also new life and new beginnings as settlers set-up their homes a long way from home. The danger is symbolised by the placement of Australia at the bottom of the globe, and the fact, that some of the water droplets will not find a home, but will drop off the end of the earth as they struggle to survive in this new and harsh country. However, there is a film of water covering the globe symbolising all those humans that found their place in a cohesive network of settlers. The celebration of botany and the herbs placed around the bottom of the fountain reflect how new plants reached Australia with the settlers. The fact that water only flows when you approach the fountain, underscores the importance of humans tending to the imported and fragile new species.
Happy Sunday to you
Poli (who should be working on assessing data and sending it out..)
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I love your stories 😀
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Hi Jude -thank you very much! Poli
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Good grief! You put a lot more effort into my post than I did. What a great interpretation. Now, of course, you’ll have to continue this practice for the next Sydney Whatever fountains. I’m very curious to see what you come up with it. 🙂
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Hiya Kaz 🙂 – good grief! That is because I am sat in front of serious stuff and I like to give my brain a fun excursion once a day with some flights of fancy on whatever fountains. Happy Monday (feels like Friday already..) Poli
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I do have this one – but I didn’t think a lot of it, if only I had known that walking to it would start the water flowing!
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I didn’t know that either when I was photographing it, and just assumed it was on a pre-programmed schedule of water flow. But it must have been responding to me moving around it!
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