Australian Geographic - 09.2019 - 10.2019

September. October 17

By Kel R ichards

Hoon

The Oxford English Dictionary

records “hoon” as Australian

(and New Zealand) slang for a

show-off with limited intelligence

adding “origin unknown”.

Hoon is most often applied to

young male drivers who are more

interested in attracting attention

to themselves than being cautious.

Sid Baker, in The Australian

Language, suggests hoon might be a

contraction from the houyhnhnms

(the talking horses in Gulliver’s

Travels). The problem is that the

horses are civilised – it’s their human

slaves, the yahoos, who are the dills.

Alternatively, hoon might be a

contraction of “hooligan” or, perhaps,

a combination of “hooligan” and

“goon”. Another proposal is that it’s

rhyming slang for “baboon”; while

yet another suggestion is that it’s

based on “buffoon”. All are possibili-

ties, and none are certainties!

PHOTO CREDIT: BRUCE COLYER

S

WAN HILL Pioneer Settlement is

the perfect location for one of

the Mallee town’s three stone

horse troughs, because it still provides

water for working horses that are

occasionally involved in the living

museum’s historic re-enactments.

All three Swan Hill troughs bear the

inscription “Donated by Annis and

George Bills – Australia”, as do more

than 300 similar troughs scattered

mostly around the country’s south-

east, with a few in Western Australia

and Queensland. There are even some

as far afield as Switzerland and the

UK. Each is a simple but enduring

monument to an era when horses

were a vital mainstay of everyday life.

These troughs were financed by

the Bills Trust, a fund established after

the death of George Bills in 1927.

After settling in Australia in the late

1800s, British-born George made a

fortune in mattress manufacturing.

He was a lifelong philanthropist and

animal lover. He and his wife, Annis

(Swann), had no children of their own

and gave generously to a wide variety

of charitable causes.

George became a life governor

of the Society for the Prevention

of Cruelty to Animals in Australia

in 1924. His will stated that

income from his estate be used

for the prevention of cruelty to

animals and to provide troughs for

working horses.

In 1930 more than 500 troughs

were manufactured to a standard

concrete design by the Rocla Pipe

Company, which then delivered and

installed them free of charge in towns

and villages that had successfully

applied to the trust. The troughs

spread far and wide with some

installed in arid areas to provide water

for camels. Opportunistic native birds

and mammals made good use of the

freely available water, along with

dogs. Some models featured a small

dog trough at the side.

By the 1940s horses were fast

disappearing from our roads and no

troughs were installed after World

War II. Today, a few of these troughs

still provide water for passing

animals while others lie discarded or

damaged. But the majority are used

as planter boxes.

Have a good look around your

district and see if you can spot a Bills

trough. If you find one, spare a

thought for those thirsty horses of

yesteryear and their generous

benefactors, George and Annis Bills.

For a list of (known) Bills troughs

billswatertroughs.wordpress.com/

Traces

Bills horse trough,

Swan Hill, VIC

VIC

Swan Hill

A Bills trough with a side

dog trough at the Swan

Hill Pioneer Settlement.

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