Walking along Pleasant Street South in Ballarat towards my local supermarket, I came across a horse trough on a nature strip outside an ordinary house.

I paused to read the plaque, which explains the random horse trough was part of a bequest by George and Annis Bills.

According to Wikipedia, Bills horse troughs were manufactured in Australia and installed to provide relief for working horses in the first half of the 20th century, financed by a trust fund established through the will of George Bills.

The trust established about 700 troughs in Australia and 50 in several other countries.

One of the purposes of the trust, as set out in George Bills' will, was to: "... construct and erect and pay for horse troughs wherever they may be of the opinion that such horse troughs are desirable for the relief of horses and other dumb animals either in Australasia, in the British Islands or in any other part of the world subject to the consent of the proper authorities being obtained."

Each trough cost £13 plus transport and installation. Most of the troughs were installed in Victoria and New South Wales between 1930 and 1939.

This post by historian and librarian, Ellen, provides more detail and pictures of other horse troughs.

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 died in 1927 and about 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”.