The plaque from the Sali Cleve Drinking Fountain in St Kilda

The plaque from the Sali Cleve drinking fountain in the Catani Gardens in St Kilda  has recently been stolen. The plaque was inscribed with - This drinking fountain is a gift to the public from Sali Cleve, Esq., April 1911.

The Sali Cleve Drinking Fountain

Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sali_Cleve_Drinking_Fountain_in_Catani_Gardens,_St_Kilda.jpg

The fountain, was donated by St Kilda resident, Mr Sali Cleve and  was officially unveiled on May 23, 1911.  The Malvern Standard reported -

Judging by the number of street monuments - drinking fountains in the majority - that are being erected within the boundaries of St. Kilda, that city is particularly fortunate in having many generous and noble minded citizens, who, in the practical way indicated, show their devotion and interest in the community's welfare. Mr Sali Cleve, a retired Melbourne merchant and local resident, is the latest to make a presentation of a drinking fountain to the city. It is of very handsome design; it is erected on the Lower Esplanade, opposite the pier, the cost being about £250. The fountain was designed by the late Mr C. A. Irwin, and was constructed by Mr J. P. O'Rourke, of the Adamant Monumental Works, Dandenong road, who has successfully undertaken many similar classes of work. The ceremony of unveiling the fountain was performed on Tuesday afternoon by Mr Watt, Acting Premier, who was accompanied by Mr Edgar, Minister for Public Works. (1) 

In 1916, Mr Cleve had a park in St Kilda named in his honour. Cleve Gardens, on the corner of  Beaconsfield Parade and Fitzroy Street, was so named as for many years he had  most generously paid for the improving and beautifying of that reserve. Sali Cleve died at the age of 88 on November 2, 1919. (2) 

 

The Plaque. 

Image: St Kilda Historical Society https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/603efb1a092fbbe37f3e95f9

The plaque was located above the pink granite block. 

Image: © Vanished Victoria

This is  a senseless theft from an historic and decorative drinking fountain, and an insult to the memory of the philanthropic and generous Mr Sali Cleve. The City of Port Phillip intends to replace the plaque. 

Footnotes

(1) Malvern Standard, May 27, 1911, see here. There is another report of the unveiling in the Prahran Telegraph of May 27, 1911, here. 

(2) Prahran Chronicle, February 19, 1916, see here; The Argus, November 4, 1919,see here;  Jewish Herald, November 14, 1919, see here.  

The vandalism of the Captain Cook statue, St Kilda

The statue of Captain James Cook, in the Catani Gardens St Kilda, was the victim of  Australia Day vandalism in the early hours of January 25, 2024. The statue was sawn off at the ankles, discarded on the grass and the plinth was graffitied. The Police are investigating.  Two days later a monument to Captain Cook in the Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy was also toppled and  graffitied

The Captain Cook statue was made in England by John Tweed, from the same cast as the statue installed in the town of Whitby in England, where Yorkshire born Cook lived for nine years from the age of seventeen. The pedestal and the bronze plaques were made in Victoria. Andrew Stenhouse, a local businessman who lived just opposite the Gardens on Beaconsfield Parade, donated  £500 towards the cost of the statue and this was supplemented by other donations. The statue was unveiled on December 1, 1914. 

The vandalism was a disrespectful act towards the statue of a man who came from a humble background and became one of the greatest explorers in history, though had never set foot on what would become Victoria, and whose life ended in 1779 in a brutal Hawaiian altercation, where he was buried at sea.

 The Premier of Victoria, Jacinta Allen, has been quoted as saying We'll be working with council to repair and reinstate the statue in St Kilda.

UPDATE - In February 2025 the Captain Cook Statue was restored.

The Captain Cook statue, St Kilda foreshore.

State Library of Victoria Cyril Stainer collection of glass lantern slides, Image H2013.223/36

The plinth of the statue, with boots still attached. 

Image: © VanishedVictoria, taken January 26, 2024.

The plinth of the statue

Image: © VanishedVictoria, taken January 26, 2024.

The Captain Cook monument  in the Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy was toppled and  graffitied, two days later. The Police are also investigating this incident. In May 2025 the City of  Yarra voted not to restore the monument on the grounds that it was not significant, was divisive and restoration  was a waste of ratepayers' money.

The Cook Monument in the Edinburgh Gardens, North Fitzroy

Image: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-28/captain-cook-monument-toppled-edinburgh-garden/103398688

The Captain Cook Society website notes that there are 124 monuments or memorials to Captain James Cook world-wide. In Australia there are 41: 7 statues, 3 obelisks, 5 cairns, 9 plaques, 1 marker and 16 other memorials

Sources

• Melbourne Statues of Queen Victoria and Captain Cook vandalised on Australia Day eve https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-25/melbourne-captain-cook-queen-victoria-statues-vandalised/103386996
• Patrols ramp up across Melbourne after Captain Cook statue desecrated https://www.9news.com.au/national/st-kilda-vandals-cut-captain-cook-statue-from-base-in-melbourne/e3ff8847-c7ba-4fe1-9106-6bbe1e78bf3b
• Carlo Catani, Andrew Stenhouse and Captain Cook's statue in St Kilda https://carlocatani.blogspot.com/2019/09/carlo-catani-andrew-stenhouse-and.html
• Captain Cook Society https://www.captaincooksociety.com/
• Captain Cook monument toppled in Edinburgh Gardens https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-28/captain-cook-monument-toppled-edinburgh-garden/103398688
• Captain Cook memorial will not return to Melbourne park after repeated vandalism   https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/14/captain-cook-memorial-yarra-permanently-removed-edinburgh-gardens-melbourne-park

In February 2024 the Captain Cook statue in the Fitzroy Gardens was also vandalised, you can read about this here http://www.vanishedvictoria.org.au/2026/02/captain-cook-statue-in-fitzroy-gardens.html

Ornamental fountain, Catani Gardens, St Kilda

The St Kilda Fore Shore Committee was established in 1906 and oversaw the on-going reclamation works on the St Kilda foreshore and the commissioning of the gardens which would be named in honour of Public Works Department engineer, Carlo Catani, in 1927. Catani was also an inaugural member of the Fore Shore Committee. In addition to the lawns and gardens, landscape cultural beauties, and other means of adornment (1) were added. One of these adornments was this fountain, which has vanished.

The fountain was on the site of the English Pierrots pavilion and it was unveiled in September, 1929 (2).  

St Kilda's new ornamental fountain

The Herald September 6, 1929 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/244006597

The fountain in the Catani gardens.

Image: Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a city and after 1840 - 1930, v. 2

 (St Kilda City Council, 1931), between pages 210 & 211.

The fountain, surrounded by palm trees.

The Fountain and Gardens, St Kilda. Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. 

Image dated c. 1925-1954

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/7274

It was an elaborate fountain, with some delightful features,  which was surrounded by a circular pond built of stone work, which in turn was surrounded by a circular garden bed. The statuary consisted of five pedestals – the central tallest one was surmounted by a light and decorated with four kookaburras.  On the other four pedestals  stood a statue of a boy, described as a Peter Pan figure, each holding a bowl. At the base of the statue, between each outer pedestal, was a frog (3). You can see these details in the photo below.

The fountain, showing the kookaburras and the frogs.

Detail  of the Fountain and Gardens, St Kilda. Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. 

Image dated c. 1925-1954

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/7274

Another view of the fountain, which is partially hidden by the light pole in the centre, but it gives a good indication of where it was located in the gardens.

View in Gardens, St Kilda. Photographer: Rose Stereograph Co. 

Image dated c. 1925-1954, I would estimate late 1940s. 

State Library of Victoria Image H32492/6580

The fountain is at the centre top of the gardens.

St Kilda. Victorian Railways photographer. Image dated c. 1945 - c. 1954.

State Library of Victoria Image H91.50/841. 

This photograph has been cropped, see original here http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/450624

When did the fountain vanish? It was still there in the 1950s, as you can see from the photographs. The State Library of Victoria has a later aerial photograph dated c.1950-c.1960, which shows the fountain. The photo is still under copyright, but you can see it here.

Should you have any information about this item's history or location, please leave a comment below or see 'Contact us' tab for anonymous emailing.

Should you actually possess the item and wish to return it its rightful owners or custodians, please contact us.

 

Footnotes

(1) Cooper, John Butler The History of St Kilda from its first settlement to a city and after 1840 - 1930, v. 2 (St Kilda City Council, 1931), p. 209.

(2) The new fountain was reported on in The Herald, September 6, 1929, see here; The Herald, May 15, 1929, see here; 

(3) Prahran Telegraph, October 4, 1929, see here.