Situated on Townsville 's waterfront, this fountain , switched on in 1959 to mark the 100th anniversary of the separation of Queensland from New South Wales, normally erupts joyously and regularly. Over Easter , however , this blogger discovered that the fountain had seemingly run dry , there was no pale imitation of the famous Lady Knox Geyser , Waiotapu , Rotorua , New Zealand , see rare postcard foot of this post.
One can only surmise the fountain has stopped performing because of the Townsville City Council water restrictions due to the low level of the city's dam .
Thirsting for knowledge about why the fountain is not working , this blogger , avoiding dried bird droppings , placed his sweaty mitt on the outline of a hand on the information stand , which activates details about the feature . A male voice simply croaked Mayor Tony Mooney had done the necessary honours in 1959 to set the fountain in action . No breaking news about why it is not working .
Apart from bearing testimony to the fact that Lady Knox knew how to erupt in a great display , the person in the early 20th century postcard , from the Little Darwin collection of oddities , is wearing a wig like that of a judge in the Old Bailey, but dressed like an opera singer, possibly from Faust? Mayor Mooney was surely not similarly attired when he went on stage at the opening of the fountain . The volcanic activity of New Zealand in early days was oft likened to Hell, where the Devil supposedly resided . One place , also near Rotorua , is called Hell's Gate .
