Mooney Memorial Fountain

A rare and ornate example of a Victorian public monument, the gothic style Mooney Memorial drinking fountain stands on an intersection of Eagle and Queen St as a long forgotten tribute to a fireman who lost his life in the Queen St fire of 1877.

James Mooney was a young volunteer fire fighter who is not only remembered here civically in the porphyry sculpture designed by City Engineer WH Chambers, but also with a memorial at his grave in Toowong Cemetery.

The spire of the column once dominated the area at 10m high, although today it is dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers, and the three lions heads are made of Sicilian marble. The ornate filial which once graced it was destroyed by a drunken US soldier who attempted to climb the fountain and, in an ironic and tragic twist, destroyed himself in the process.

Since its refurbishment in 1988 it has been rebranded as a memorial to all fire fighters who have lost their lives in the city.