The Gemmill Fountain has been reinstalled

at the National Museum!

.

Like their peers, three young sisters are learning about the history of Singapore in school. But unlike most pupils, they have helped to resurrect a piece of local history. It all started last April, when the sisters who are in primary school and their housewife mother went to see an exhibition of costumes at the National Museum. The mother had read about a fountain at the museum on the Internet and told the girls about it, resulting in a treasure hunt. The girls made a search around the museum but couldn't find the fountain. One of the girls then decided to e-mail the director of the museum to ask what had happened to it. Her e-mail eventually gave the museum the idea of reinstalling it.

The Gemmill Fountian is Singapore's oldest public drinking fountain, erected in 1864. The fountain was a gift donated by Singapore's first auctioneer and banker, John Gemmill, when he left Singapore for London in 1864. The restoration of the marble fountain took place from September to December last year. The project took 180 man hours to complete and spots a motion-activated spout today. I remember drinking from this fountian once when I frequented the museum at a time when it was still considered an uncool place to hangout. You had to press a button for the water to spurt out then. Times have changed and as with the motion-activated spout, the museum has become a place for pea-pal to be seen chi-chi-la-ing about.