The medicinal value of the waters was submitted to rigid chemical examination, and summarised as containing magnesia, seltzer, sulphur, soda and iron.

Steamers ran excursions from Geelong and other places, and regular coach services were provided by Cobb & Co. from nearby Portarlington and Drysdale.

Other buildings, including a boiler house, mineral water bottling plant, kiosk, and manager's cottage were built[2] in the vicinity of what became known as "Fairy Dell".

In the early 1960s, real estate developers Willmore and Randell acquired 1,300 acres (530 ha) in Clifton Springs, with a 2-mile (3.2 km) frontage to Corio Bay.

A public meeting on 12 March expressed general support for renovating the structure, using an enclosed, non-evaporative system, which would use much less water.

The renovation would include symbols of the area’s past and possible futures, linking the fountain with some of the public art at The Dell, and evoking the time when mineral water was exported from Clifton Springs.

In the first episode of the first series, Jay Cartwright (played by James Buckley) attempts to buy drinks at a pub while underage, using a fake Victorian driver's licence belonging to Bret Clement, which lists an address on Whitcombes Road in Clifton Springs.