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Zoo Lake’s iconic water feature still relevant

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Have you ever driven past Zoo Lake and wondered how did that fountain get there? Well, it all started with an idea to create a park that was for the people of Johannesburg.

According to the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation’s Flo Bird, a large piece of land, which later became known as the (Hermann Eckstein Park), was donated to all the people of Johannesburg in 1903.

“It was actually a low lying piece of land, quite a lot of it was marshland, and could not be sold off for township development,” says Bird.

The gift of land however came with several conditions, which meant that whites, blacks, coloureds and Indians could share the same space at the same time and this caused a huge furore.

A man–made lake was added to the park in 1908. Bird says it started out as a mucky pond. ‘”I am afraid it’s still quite mucky (laughs).’”

‘”They then dug it up and made it much deeper, and boating on the lake became quite fashionable and it still remains a great pastime for many today.’”

It was only in 1937, when the City of Johannesburg had the idea to build a grand fountain in the middle of the lake. It also came at time when a new British monarch had succeeded to the throne, as Edward VIII had abdicated in 1936.

Edward VIII had been quite a favoured King in the Commonwealth because had appealed to ordinary people he had gone out where as previously monarchs had kept themselves very much above the ‘hoi-pol-lio’.

“He (Edward VIII) was dubbed the People’s King, he was very popular especially when he came to South Africa.”
Edward VIII was succeeded by his brother George VI.

In order to celebrate the new King’s coronation, the City of Johannesburg went all out and created a spectacular illuminated fountain from then on it was known as the ‘Coronation Fountain’.

“It was a major attraction.”

Bird says at one stage it was the most romantic place to go to in Johannesburg. “You would find lots of lovers wondering around Zoo Lake, they would come from far and wide just to watch the illuminating fountain. It was a spectacular sight even at night.”

Bird adds: “During the day it was even more fun, I remember in the summer time, we used to hire one of the rowing boats and make our way to the middle of the lake where we all got absolutely soaked by the spray from the Coronation Fountain.”

– By Richard Brooks

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