General News
7 March, 2025
Historic trough restored
After almost a century in the elements, Bealiba’s aging horse trough is receiving some much needed care this week after four years of local effort.
The Annis and George Bills horse trough in Bealiba is the victim of corroded iron rebar and crumbling concrete, all concerns to be addressed as a part of the works.
Councillor Liesbeth Long, for whom the horse trough has been a priority alongside the community, was “stoked” to see a part of Bealiba’s 2020 community plan come to fruition.
“When these council plans and these community plans are done a lot of people knock them, saying ‘they just get filed in the bottom of the draw, it won’t see daylight, nothing will happen’. Well, here is actual proof what the community wants gets delivered,” she said.
The restoration of the horse trough and identifying a suitable home were flagged as being important for the protection and maintenance of local heritage in the plan.
“The crumbling just seemed to be getting worse and worse so it became a bit urgent to have it restored before things got any worse,” Cr Long said.
The troughs are a reminder of businessman George Bills and his wife Annis Bills animal welfare contributions continuing after their death.
Leaving no children Mr Bills will directed parts of his trust to fund the construction of horse troughs. Through the 1930s these pre-cast concrete troughs were largely installed in Victoria and New South Wales.
According to Kim Chamberlin, who’s project manager on the team overseeing the works, the challenge had been securing funding to do the expensive work of properly restoring the trough with the right experts.
“Getting the funding to do it properly rather than doing it in an inappropriate way was important,” he said.
“It’s important for the history of the town and the area. There’s a lot of community support behind it.”
The right funding came in the form of $21,563 from the Victorian Government’s Tiny Towns Grants Program, with council contributing $7,187.
The right expert for the job was someone with familiarity with these concrete troughs and how they age. Someone like Dr Evan Tindal, principal objects conservator at Grimwade Conservation Services, who has worked on several Bills horse troughs before.
“It’s really lovely that the community has entrusted us with the opportunity to do this because they are very significant and an important part of Australia’s history,” he said.
“Some have degraded more so than this one and so they’re becoming fewer and fewer in number.”
In Dr Tindal’s experience all of the troughs are experiencing the same challenges as they near a century old.
When the concrete was first poured around the rebar structure its high pH meant it protected the rebar from the elements however decades of environmental conditions lowered the pH of the concrete.
“When the concrete pH lowers it permits the iron rebar that’s inside of it to corrode. When that happens the corrosion product is seven times bigger than the iron itself and so it expands outwards and literally knocks off chunks of concrete,” Dr Tindal said.
That’s where Dr Tindal’s work becomes both an art and a science. There is a side which concerns itself with stabilisation, for example a corrosion inhibitor being used to protect the rebar, but also one that focuses on aesthetics.
For example, the top edge of the trough was mostly cracked exposing the corroded rebar leaving Dr Tindal a puzzle to solve.
“Where we could ideally, because fill is going to be really difficult to entirely match that colour, what we’ve done is collect what’s inside of [the trough] with the aim of trying to replace as much as possible,” he said.
This process led to Dr Tindal rebuilding a whole corner of the trough. But when this isn’t possible he mixes a colour matched concrete with sand and bluestone in similar quantities to the original construction to replicate the pattern.
“That’s taken a bit of experimentation. When you put a fill in with concrete it’s going to look new, so the biggest [challenge] is trying to age that again. So we can do that with some mild acids like vinegar.”
It’s this careful process of conservation and restoration Cr Long doesn’t think everyone understands.
“I don’t think people appreciate concrete 100 years ago isn’t what concrete is now. I don’t think people grasp that concept, that this is a historic piece that was made a long time ago and it’s got to be restored properly by expert Evan to maintain it for the future,” she said.
Cr Long recognised some in the community might view the project as costing a lot of money but she views it as an investment in the town’s history and future tourism opportunities.
“When people think it’s ‘a waste’ they need to have a good think about that. I don’t think it’s a waste at all, I think it’ll bring a lot of people to the town,” she said.
“There are people that actually travel around Australia looking at troughs and they take photos of them, they collect them, and now we can add this one to the list.”
Alongside the conservation work was the trough’s relocation from its temporary home on the corner of Main and Grant streets to the corner of Main and Cochrane streets in front of the 25-year-old and traditionally constructed wooden fence.
“It was all covered in bushes, the fence was grown over. It was still a part of the town, but I think this will really enhance this spot,” Cr Long said.
The relocation included the installation of a new gravel pad and the construction of new feet by local specialist Craig Congues.
Motorists are asked to be careful driving along Main and Cochrane streets while the conservation works are underway, which will be shown by road signs.