Reverend George WilkinsonPrint Page

A fountain commemorates a local Anglican minister, Reverend George Wilkinson.

The Wilkinson Memorial Drinking Fountain was inaugurated in October 1876 by the Bishop of Ballarat, Dr Thornton, in the presence of the Mayor of Williamstown, ministers of all denominations and over 2000 people. It had been paid for by public subscription to commemorate the Reverend George Wilkinson, the local Anglican minister who had died the previous year.

The drinking fountain erected at Williamstown, as a memorial to the late Rev. George Wilkinson, who for many years was the Church of England clergyman of the parish, was formally opened yesterday, it being the first anniversary of his death. The committee who instituted the movement for a Wilkinson Memorial thought a drinking fountain the most appropriate form in which to carry into effect the general desire to bear public and lasting testimony to the esteem in which the deceased was held, and accordingly a chaste iron fountain was imported from England through Messrs. James M'Ewan and Co. The requisite permission having been obtained, the memorial fountain was placed at the corner of Nelson place and the town pier, opposite the Custom house, one of the most prominent situations in the town. At the request of the mayor, most of the shops in Williamstown were closed yesterday afternoon, and notwithstanding the rain, which fell almost uninterruptedly during its progress, the demonstration proved a great success. The open space near the fountain was thronged with spectators. Dr. Thornton, the bishop of Ballarat, who returned from Sydney earlier than he intended in order to be present on the occasion, performed the ceremony of opening the fountain. In the course of a few remarks he said that when a year ago the Rev George Wilkinson was called to his rest, not only Williamstown, but the colony generally, lost a good, faithful devoted man, a loyal, earnest, consistent and able minister of the Gospel. He approved of the form which the committee had given the memorial as being appropriate as a public monument, and in respect to the symbolic meaning with which it might be invested. On behalf of the municipality the mayor of Williamstown, Mr D Aitkens accepted the fountain from the committee. The ministers of religion resident in the town delivered short addresses bearing on the subject of the memorial. 
Argus (Melbourne), 18 October 1876.

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