Description

In 1887 a public subscription was raised in Burra for a special train to take 455 children and 175 adults to an exhibition in Adelaide to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The train was reported to be the first passenger train to pass through the tunnel under King William Street on the new spur line to the exhibition grounds, in what is now the University of Adelaide campus. After the event the committee had an excess of £31-12-0 and decided to spend half on this drinking fountain, which carried the inscription 'Children's Celebration Jubilee 1887'. An upper decorative part on which the cups hung was removed in 1909. Although intended to provide refreshment for those walking between Burra and Burra North, in fact the fountain only ever for brief periods due to repeated acts of vandalism.