Jun 17 2008
Water for Horses and Frogs
Once upon a time we had horse troughs like these all over the place.
We still had horses then, the baker’s daughter arrived in a horse drawn cart, as did the infrequent Bottle-O to pick up any used glass, and the even less frequent Rabbit-O with his wares. (Always buy the whole rabbit, my mother warned, you have to look at the head).
The milk was delivered by a horse too, walking slowly, pulling his van without prompting along our street. The milkman, with a little hand basket packed with bottles, stopped at every gate where we would leave notes out for him overnight. Two pints and 1/3 of cream please. And the money sitting next to yesterday’s empty bottles.
With all of these horses, a kindly couple bestowed horse troughs for fresh water all over town. Click on that photo for a larger image and you can almost read the carving on it. “Annis and George Bills”. The Bills managed to install over 500 of these concrete troughs around Australia. They didn’t stop at that, but donated a few more in places as far afield as England, Ireland, Switzerland and Japan.
The troughs are about four metres long, a metre high and a metre deep. They have an ornamental back rising like a bed-head, and they held enough clear water for the most thirsty of horses.
A world of frogs
As the 1950s settled in, the horses disappeared and the troughs, unattended, developed a particularly rich form of algae. There were whole little eco-systems in them, and after dark they were full of the noise of frogs.
I must have personally picked up a thousand frogs from the horse trough on the corner of our street. Some went in a jar to school (dead before they arrived) some were set free in our backyard (where they quickly vanished in search of water) and some I carried over the road to Mrs Britten, a jolly soul with a large pond and a heart full of affection for frogs and children.
Although no more were built after WW2, the existing troughs were kept in good condition, and there are 16 troughs still in Melbourne CBD. This is fortunate for the horses who are returning to the streets these days, pulling little jinkers in a popular way of carrying guests around the theatre district.
In some country towns you may still occasionally see a carefully preserved horse trough in a park or open space. Usually they will hold a floral display with an information board on the history of the trough.
Annis and George Bills
A young George Bills moved with his family to Australia in 1873, where he married Annis Swann in Brisbane in 1885. They had no children but shared a love of animals, donating large sums of money to various animal benevolent organisations. They installed several horse troughs around Melbourne
Iron hitching rails were added by public donations of money, and the rails inscribed. In appreciation G and A Bills from the citizens of Melbourne 1909. The RSPCA made George a Life Governor in 1924.
On 500 horse troughs around the world reads the inscription :-
Donated by Annis and George Bills, Australia.
Keep an eye out.
Like to shout me a cold beer?
