Annis and George Bills Horse Troughs

So, this is technically not a new post. It’s an update to an old one. In 2015 I went on a trip the Wimmera in Victoria and came across two horse troughs in two different towns with the same inscription. The inscription read that they had been donated by Annis and George Bills. You can see them in the photos below

When I got home I did some digging and found that these two troughs were part of an extraordinary bequest, and that they can be found all over Victoria and some of New South Wales. You can read the original post here, but I’ll provide the overall idea here too.

George Bills made his money out of mattresses, first in making them and then in creating and patenting machinery to weave them. His father, who was a naturalist, came to Australia in the 1800s and, as the Horsham Times described it in 1935, “his heart ached to see the sufferings of dumb animals.” This was a concern that he passed on to his son George who also associated himself with the society for the protection of animals in England, New Zealand and Australia. George’s wife died before him and they had no children so he decided to make provision in his will for the future welfare of animals. The residue of his estate, after several personal bequests, was set aside to provide free memorial horse troughs the length and breadth of the British Empire. Towns applied for them to the trust and many such as Horsham actually have more than one. George died in 1927 and approximately 86 000 pounds was left for the provision of horse troughs. Each was made to the same design and carried the inscription ‘Donated by Annis and George Bills Australia.” By 1937, according the the Adelaide Advertiser, the trust had set up more than 400 horse troughs in Victoria and were expanding to New South Wales.

Sometimes they were for more than horses though and issues could arise, as Dubbo found in 1946. In this particular case dogs and humans were catered for as well as horses. Unfortunately the position of the human’s drinking fountain was problematic. As the Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate said.

“Unfortunately, lack of foresight was shown in the placing of the adjunct for the public. It is immediately over the small concrete basin for dogs, and at the end of the horse-trough. After drinking, horses have been seen slobbering over the faucet, and dogs licking it.”

The drinking faucet was thankfully moved.

The Dubbo paper also adds the interesting detail that the activities of the trust lapsed during the war period, but began again afterwards, which was when Dubbo applied for its second horse trough with the subsequent problems.

So since writing this original post I’ve been keeping an eye out for them and I’ve found another seventeen that I have photos of. So I thought I’d do this update so I can add in my new photos. And it gives me a spot to upload new ones as I find them. It’s such a fascinating piece of Australian history, and every time I spot one it makes me happy and it’s always interesting to see what use, if any, the town is putting them to now. Anyway, here are the rest of the photos