Creation of Knox drinking fountain monument refenced in a book
Josh McDadeThe creation of this monument is referenced in "Sacred Places: War Memorials in the Australian Landscape" written by Kenneth Stanley Inglis on page 42 (3rd Ed. 2008). Published by Melbourne University Press, first published 1998.
"When people in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda heard that Edwin Knox, son of the municipal valuator, had been accidentally drowned in South Africa on 26 February 1901, a group from the local rifle club and tradesmen's club erected a commemorative drinking fountain in a seaside park.
Then came more bad news. 'When the reports of deaths in action followed on Knox's death', writes a local historian, 'it was realised that individual memorials, where so many suffered, were a mistake....' Eventually a civic committee collected money for a large monument bearing the names of seven soldiers from St Kilda who had died at the war and fifty-nine who had served and returned."
The book notes JB Cooper, The History of St. Kilda, vol 2, Melbourne, 1931, p238
The drinking fountain is located in the small Cleve Gardens at the corner of Beaconsfield Parade, beach end of Fitzroy Street, north end of Acland Street. This park is across the road (Beaconsfield Parade) from the Catani Gardens.
