We have a Bills' Trough at the Historical Society Museum, here at Koo Wee Rup, and you will probably have seen others on your travels throughout Australia. They were funded from a bequest from the will of George Bills, who died on December 14, 1927. His will left various bequests to friends and employees but the bulk of his Estate was to be made available by his Executors to Societies for the protection of animals, such as the Victorian Society for the Protection of Animals (as the RSPCA was then called) and the Purple Cross Society; and for the construction of horse troughs for the relief of horses or other ‘dumb animals’. These troughs were to be inscribed with the names of George and his wife Annis.
The Purple Cross Society had been established in England in 1914 to mitigate the sufferings of horses in war (1). A branch was established in Victoria in 1915 (2) and after the War finished it was decided that the principal aims of the Purple Cross Society should be the establishment of a rest home for horses, and the erection of drinking troughs (3). By November 1926 they had erected 33 troughs throughout Victoria (4), such as the one shown below.
A trough erected by the Purple Cross Services of Victoria, in St Kilda Road, near Domain Road. It was unveiled in 1926 by Sir John Monash (5). The small plaque reads
He gains no crosses as a soldier may,
No medals for the many risks he runs;
He only, in his patient, puzzled way
Sticks to his guns!
Photographer: John T. Collins, taken September 29, 1974.
State Library of Victoria Image H98.251/939
Who were George and Annis Bills? An article by Tim Gibson, Donated by Annis and George Bills - Australia: their concrete horse trough legacy published in the Gippsland Heritage Journal (see full citation at the bottom of this post) tells us that George was one of fourteen children and was born in Brighton in England on March 11, 1859. The family emigrated to New Zealand in 1869 and moved to Victoria in 1873. In 1880 George, and his brother Henry, commenced a wire working business in Sydney. Other brothers, Richard and Walter, later joined the business. Walter had invented a wire coiler and this led the Company into the manufacture of wire mattresses. The business became known as Bills Brothers. Various of the brothers operated factories in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane at one time. George married Annis Elizabeth Swann (b.1860) on May 18, 1885 at the Brisbane Registry Office. In 1910 the couple went on a trip to England where Annis died. They had no children.
George and his brother Henry had been supporters of the Victorian Society for the Protection of Animals and this devotion to the cause of animal welfare was continued, as we know, after George’s death through his will. His Estate was administered by his sister, Daisy and her husband, William Crook. In those days the contents of Wills were reported in the newspapers and Mr Bills' will was clearly unusual as The Age reported on his will under the headline - A Freakish Will; whereas as The Argus started their report with Some unusual provisions are contained in the Will (6).
Tim Gibson, in his article cited above, says that the first troughs were individually designed and constructed. The two earliest newspaper mentions of troughs connected to Mr Bills I could find concerned troughs in Williamstown and in Hawthorn. The Williamstown Chronicle reported on a Williamstown Council meeting in December 1928 - At the meeting of the council, a letter was received from the Purple Cross Society of Victoria, stating that the society had agreed to supply a water trough for erection on the Strand, near the ferry. The trough would be in concrete, with a large basin for horses, a special drinking basin for dogs, and a bubbly fountain for drivers.....It was requested that when the trough was built that the words, "Annise [sic] and Geo. Bills, Australia," be placed on the structure. (7).
A month later, The Herald reported in January 1929 that - A handsome granite trough with a dog dish and drinking fountain will be erected in Barton street, Hawthorn, as a tribute to the memory of Mr Bills (8).
A trough to honour Mr Bills.
In the early 1930s Jack Phillips became the contractor and had a standard design of pre-cast concrete, which were manufactured in Auburn Road in Hawthorn. Rocla then took over the manufacture of the troughs around 1937. Also in 1937 the last trough was supplied to a Victorian location and erected in Buckley Street in Essendon. After that, the distribution of the troughs moved to New South Wales and finished at the end of the Second World War. All up, around 700 troughs were donated to towns in Australia, around 400 of those in Victoria and fifty overseas.
Report in The Argus on the last Bills trough erected in Victoria
Where can you find the Bills' troughs? In this area, the only ones I know of are at Koo Wee Rup, Tooradin, Pakenham and Bunyip. The one at Koo Wee Rup is at the Historical Society in Rossiter road. This one was originally installed outside the Royal Hotel in January 1933. The
Koo Wee Rup Sun of February 2, 1933 reported -
The new water trough opposite the Royal Hotel, is an elaborate as well as a much-needed acquisition. Artistically moulded in concrete, of large dimensions, and mounted on a concrete base put down by the council, it has attached to it, hygienic drinking facilities for mankind, whilst at one end of the base there is a small catchment trough for the use of thirsty dogs. The trough bears the inscription:-“Donated by Annis and George Bills, Australia.” Similar troughs have been erected in Pakenham, Narre Warren, Garfield and Bunyip, besides of course, many other places throughout the State.
This article from the Koo Wee Rup Sun of February 2, 1933, tells us that the Koo Wee Rup trough was originally erected near the Royal Hotel in Station Street.
Koo Wee Rup Sun, February 2, 1933 Image: Heather Arnold
You can see both the horse trough and the dog trough at Tooradin, outside the Fisherman’s Cottage Museum on the Foreshore. The two troughs can also be seen in Bunyip in High Street. The Berwick-Pakenham Historical Society has a trough on display at their Museum in Pakenham. The Bunyip and Pakenham troughs were originally installed around late 1932, early 1933.
The Koo Wee Rup Bills' trough, originally installed in January 1933 outside the Royal Hotel. It is now at the Koo Wee Rup Swamp Historical Society. In the background is the Lock-up built in the 1920s, which was originally located at the Police Station in Sybella Avenue and moved to the Historical Society in 1993.
Image: Heather Arnold, taken in 2010.
The trough at the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society Museum in Pakenham.
Image: Heather Arnold, taken in 2020.
A close-up of the inscription on the trough at the Berwick Pakenham Historical Society
Image: Heather Arnold, taken in 2020.
The trough that was erected in Bunyip is still in Bunyip, and the little dog trough also remains. I do not know where it was originally located, but I would presume in Main Street, where the two Hotels are.
The trough in Bunyip, in High Street.
The terracotta roof in the background belongs to the Post Office, which was opened on December 8, 1925.
Image: Heather Arnold, taken in 2010.
Where has the Garfield trough gone? I believe the Garfield one was outside the Iona Hotel in Main Street, but I have no information about its fate. There is also a trough on display at the Fishermans Cottage Museum, on the foreshore at Tooradin. The Museum is operated by the Cranbourne Shire Historical Society. The Tooradin trough was apparently outside the Store and Post Office along the South Gippsland highway.
The trough at the Fishermans Cottage Museum, Tooradin.
Image: Heather Arnold, taken in 2010.
The Bills' troughs are a lovely reminder of a by-gone day, when horses ruled the road and also a practical memorial to George & Annis Bills' community spirit and love of animals.
AcknowledgmentThe article I referred to, and based much of this post on, is
Donated by Annis & George Bills - Australia: their concrete horse trough legacy by Tim Gibson. Published in
Gippsland Heritage Journal No.20, September 1996.
Trove listI have created a short list of articles, on Trove, connected to Bills' Troughs in the old Shire of Berwick and Shire of Cranbourne region, access it
here.
Footnotes
(1)
The Herald, February 9, 1915, see
here.
(2) Ibid.
(3)
The Argus, November 12, 1926, see
here.
(4) Ibid.
(5) The report of the unveiling of this trough by Sir John Monash, is in
The Age, May 11 1926, see
here; there is another reference to it in
The Herald, May 6, 1931,
here.
(6)
The Age report of March 15, 1928, can be read
here;
The Argus report of the same date,
here.
(7)
Williamstown Chronicle, December 8 1928, see
here.
(8)
The Herald, January 19, 1929, see here. A version of this blog post, which I wrote and researched, also appears on my work blog - Casey Cardinia Links to Our Past and had appeared first in the Koo Wee Rup Township newsletter, The Blackfish. It has also appeared in the Garfield Spectator.
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