  We present the results of 22 GHz H_2O maser observations of a sample of 85
post-Asymptotic Giant Branch (post-AGB) candidate stars, selected on the basis
of their OH 1612 MHz maser and far-infrared properties. All sources were
observed with the Tidbinbilla 70-m radio telescope and 21 detections were made.
86 GHz SiO Mopra observations of a subset of the sample are also presented. Of
the 21 H_2O detections, 15 are from sources that are likely to be massive AGB
stars and most of these show typical, regular H_2O maser profiles. In contrast,
nearly all the detections of more evolved stars exhibited high-velocity H_2O
maser emission. Of the five sources seen, v223 (W43A, IRAS 18450-0148) is a
well known `water-fountain' source which belongs to a small group of post-AGB
stars with highly collimated, high-velocity H_2O maser emission. A second
source in our sample, v270 (IRAS 18596+0315), is also known to have
high-velocity emission. We report the discovery of similar emission from a
further three sources, d46 (IRAS 15445-5449), d62 (IRAS 15544-5332) and b292
(IRAS 18043-2116). The source d46 is an evolved post-AGB star with highly
unusual maser properties. The H_2O maser emission from d62 is probably
associated with a massive star. The source b292 is a young post-AGB star that
is highly likely to be a water-fountain source, with masers detected over a
velocity range of 210 km s^{-1}.
