Mayor who left his mark
IT seems such a pity that the Belcher Building on the northwest corner of Moorabool and Ryrie streets is about to meet its demise just a couple of years short of its centenary.
The building was presumably named after George Frederick Belcher, a former mayor of Geelong, who has left a large legacy to this city beyond the condemned building at the centre of town.
One such legacy that will remain is the Belcher Fountain, which he donated to the town at the completion of his term of mayor in 1874.
The fountain had been made by Andrew Handyside at the Duke St Foundry that same year in Derby and shipped out to Australia.
For many years it stood in the centre of the iconic roundabout at the corner of Malop and Gheringhap streets. The fountain remains nearby in the shadow of the WorkSafe headquarters.
Belcher also donated the land for St John’s Church in Highton which was near his home Adzar off South Valley Rd. Adzar was next door to another stately home, Shoubra, which was owned by a solicitor, William Higgins. Shoubra Drive bears its name.
In 1869, George Belcher moved to Ariel Cottage in Skene St, Newtown. He had by then set himself up as a financial broker and land agent with an office in the Geelong Chamber of Commerce building in Moorabool St.
George Belcher (1823 – 1909) had been born in Dublin, and accompanied his father, Joseph William Belcher, who had migrated to Melbourne in 1839. George Belcher eventually settled in Geelong and served two terms as mayor. He represented SouthWestern Province from 1875-81 in the Victorian Parliament’s Upper House.
He died at Merchiston Hall, overlooking Eastern Park, in 1909.
The Belcher Building was built in the early 1920s.
It replaced a building that was at one time a newsagency and at another time an Allans music store. Contact: peterjohnbegg@gmail.com