This horse trough was donated to the people of Morwell and District by animal lovers George and Annis Bills.
The Return of the Horse Trough
On 6th June 2013, a combined project of Morwell Historical Society, Morwell Rotary Club and Latrobe Council came to fruition with the relocation of Morwell’s “Bills Horse Trough” on the median strip of Hazelwood Road at the intersection with Commercial Road.
In the 1930s, Annis and George Bills donated more than 500 concrete drinking troughs to various municipalities in Australia and overseas, to cater for the many horses and dogs which came into town with their owners from outlying areas. The exact date of Morwell’s trough is not known but a photograph taken in about 1936 shows it in place.
Some years later it was moved to the Pony Club’s grounds in Toner’s Lane, but it fell into disuse there, and a decision was made to move it back to its original location as a pioneer memorial. The trough has been refurbished under the supervision of Morwell Historical Society member and Rotarian Graeme Cornell, who co-ordinated the project. It no longer holds water. Instead, a perspex-covered reflection of horses drinking covers the top of the trough and a plaque reads:
“This horse trough was donated to the people of Morwell and district by animal lovers George and Annis Bills. It is one of more than 500 troughs distributed throughout Australia in the 1930s to provide drinking facilities for the many horses, then used for transport and farm work, when they came into town. The small trough at the end is for dogs. This trough has been refurbished as a memorial to the people who built and developed our town and to the animals which served them so faithfully.”
Further Reading:
George and Annis Bills
TROVE
