The work of local sculptor Stephen Walker, the Tasman Fountain was unveiled by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in 1988 and features the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water, with water flowing around three historic sail ships.
On one side of the prominent landmark is a life-size bronze statue of a mustachioed Abel Tasman (1603-1659), holding a globe and contemplating his explorations. He was a Dutch seafarer, explorer, and merchant who was the first known European explorer to reach land here in 1642, also reaching New Zealand.
Never encountering any of the original aboriginal residents, he initially named it Van Diemen’s Land after his sponsor, the Governor of the Dutch East Indies, but it was renamed in his own honor when it became self-governing in 1856.
Opposite Tasman, a plinth of white rock showing the four Southern Cross stars—and featuring four flying seagulls—is partially surrounded by a sweeping white concrete fountain that has three surprisingly detailed bronze ships in full sail.
Check out the figureheads and the tiny sailors on board, then find the platypus that is swimming in the stepped waterway below the ships. There are also several plaques that explain Tasman and his adventures.
Nearby, another bronze Walker fountain sculpture, Journeys to the Southland, commemorates the Dutch, British and French ships that explored this area. A more esoteric design that somewhat resembles an angular sea creature, it was originally unveiled elsewhere in 1979, and relocated here in 1998.
That relocation came about as a result of the Aboriginal Lands Bill, when the indigenous owners of the land where it was located decommissioned the work and returned it to the artist; it was unseen in storage for several years before being resurrected by the developers of Salamanca Square.
