Boy and Urn

The past history of the Boy and Urn is unknown, it may have been moved from another part of the garden to its current position on top of the Mound in the early 1900s. Positioned atop a small rockery, the fountain features a bronze figure of a small boy tipping an urn held on his shoulder, from which water spills into the bowl below. The water from the bowl overflows down a rockery into the nearby lake. The erection of this type of work was part of a tradition of placing classically inspired, or copied, statuary in the city’s gardens. That portion of the gardens which includes the lake and Mound and which was an additional attraction to the Fitzroy Gardens was thrown open to the public. The Lord Mayor of Melbourne Cr. Thomas J. Davey was present at the opening ceremony on Wednesday, January 17 1912, he declared this portion of the gardens open every day from 8 a.m. until sundown. John Guilfoyle was appointed City of Melbourne Parks and Gardens Curator in 1891. It would have been under his direction that the Mound and lake was built. Guilfoyle never saw the completion as in January 1909 at the age of fifty-five he died from a heart complaint. His replacement was George Brown, the foreman of the Fitzroy Gardens, who started work in the gardens in 1886, who carried on to complete the landscaping works. Stolen During the night of March 18th 2016, the Boy and Urn statue was stolen from the Fitzroy Gardens. The City of Melbourne and Police are asking anyone with information to come forward. Contact City of Melbourne on (03) 9658 9658 or on its website, Police through Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.