Wind and water

A few weeks back I wrote a post about the number of windmills I noticed as I paddled some of the more rural sections of the Barwon, titled Tilting at windmills. Not long after, I received a detailed comment from "Hugh" whose family owned the land on which one of the windmills I had photographed stood. He informed me that in addition to the remains of this windmill near Ceres, a larger windmill had stood on the opposite bank of the river on land owned by the McCann family, but that it had been removed to make way for the Geelong Ring Road near where the Geoff Thom Bridge (the subject of a post from October, 2011) crosses the Barwon.


The Geoff Thom Bridge over the Barwon

He also provided details of some other significant windmills associated with the Barwon and Geelong's past. A pair were located, at Sparrovale Farm, their purpose being to drain the surrounding  land, and an earlier one was built at Chilwell and was used to operate the Riversdale Flour mill. Some discussion of the latter mill can be seen in the comments following my post "Grist to the mill".
The good news according to Hugh however, is that the McCann's windmill has been completely restored and is now located at the Geelong Showgrounds. As I live not too far away and often pass the showgrounds, I had indeed noticed the windmill and wondered about it. It was a simple matter therefore to snap a few photos of this large, fully-restored and rather impressive Southern Cross windmill, located just inside the gate on Breakwater Road.

Restored Southern Cross windmill at Geelong Showground

 It was a clear, hot day while I was there with only a light breeze blowing, however it was still enough to have the sails turning and the shaft rising and falling.

Southern Cross windmill, Geelong Showground

This windmill is noted on the Windmill Journal of Australia and New Zealand website, however the details do not appear as far as I can tell, to be accurate. I did search for further details concerning the restoration and installation of the windmill at its current site, however I couldn't see anything online.


Windmill at the showground

I did however make one other "discovery". I had forgotten that Geelong boasts two "Bills Troughs". The first, located in Fitzroy Street, Geelong was the subject of an earlier post "Horses for courses" and the second - as can be seen in one of the above photos - is located within the Geelong Showgrounds.


Bills Trough at Geelong Showground

More details can be found about these troughs in the earlier post, but in brief, they were installed during the 1930s across Australia and some other countries for the benefit of working horses. The funds were provided from a trust established out of the proceeds of the will of George Bills and his wife Annis. About 700 troughs were produced and all but about 50 of them were located in Australia.
 The troughs have a distinctive shape and style. The photo below shows a plaque acknowledging the benefactors on the trough at the showground.

Plaque on the trough

Horses for courses

On a recent search to uncover one of those pesky little geocaches (located as it happened somewhere in the vicinity of a horse trough), it occurred to me that since Europeans arrived, the Barwon River has had a continuous association with horses.

Rider beside the Barwon in Newtown

Today, horse-riding along or over the Barwon is generally a leisure activity, whether riding along the banks or going for a beach-front ride at the river mouth in Barwon Heads.
In the early days of settlement however, when horses were the only real mode of transport, and bridges were scarce, crossing the river could be a difficult and expensive process. Private individuals operated punts which crossed the river at a number of points, charging a shilling for a man and horse to cross whilst for a horse and dray or cart, the charge was as much as 1 shilling and sixpence. A horse and pair cost an extra shilling.
Central to entertainment in any 19th century Australian town was horse racing and of course, Geelong was no exception. In the earliest days, race meetings were held at various places. The first was at Corio and another very early meet in 1843 was held at the Fyansford Inn (aka The Swan Inn) on the high ground above Fyansford, overlooking the Moorabool and Barwon Rivers.
From this time on, races were held in a variety of places right across the region including a 727 acre site on the Barwon at Marshall Town. Not surprisingly however, this course was subject to flooding and as a result winter events were regularly cancelled. In 1907, the current course in Breakwater became the permanent home for the Geelong Racing Club.
In addition to the race course, there have been and are currently a number of horse studs and training facilities located along the banks of the river. One such is Rosemont Stud at Ceres outside Geelong. Currently owned by media identity Anthony Mithen, Rosemont extends for 2.5km along the banks of the Barwon and runs back up into the Barrabool Hills behind, providing excellent facilities for breeding and training thoroughbreds.
Over the years, Rosemont was also home to the Barwon Valley Pony Club whose tenancy lasted from the early 1960s until 1989 when they moved to Moriac. Throughout this period, the pony club also had associations with another historic property located on the banks of the Barwon - Frogmore at Fyansford.
More renowned for its famous 19th century nursery than its equestrian connections, Frogmore has in recent years, been host not only to pony club competitions but also to polo contests which continue to the present day.
Of course, another renowned stud located on the banks of the Barwon was St. Albans. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was located in the Geelong suburb which now bears its name and in its day played host to many Melbourne Cup runners including briefly, the legendary PharLap.
St Albans homestead was built in 1873 for the trainer and breeder James Wilson whose horses also had success in the VRC Oaks and Victoria Derby. The area whilst now a suburban development, traces of the stud still remain, including the homestead itself and traces of the race track and trees which were grown as a wind break on the property.

Water trough donated by Annis and George Bills

Naturally, with so many horses, it was necessary to keep them watered and fed. One couple who were particularly concerned for the well being of horses and other animals, were George and Annis Bills who were responsible for many bequests and philanthropic acts during the course of their lives which benefited both man and beast. Both born in England, they met and married in Brisbane in the 1880s then spent time in Echuca and Sydney before retiring to Hawthorn in Melbourne. Annis died in 1910 whilst on a trip to England and then upon the death of George in 1927 a trust fund was set up whose purpose 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."
Under this scheme, some 700 odd troughs were installed around the country during the 1930s and up to 50 in other countries. Amazingly enough, quite a number of these lovely old troughs have survived and are still in their original locations. The trough I was hunting today, sits on Fitzroy Street, Geelong in the short section between Sydney Parade and Ryrie Street. It is one of two in Geelong, the other being located at the Geelong Showground in Breakwater.
Each trough was supplied with a backing plate which carried the inscription "Donated by Annis and George Bills Australia". Unfortunately the trough in Fitzroy Street is currently missing its backing plate and does not appear to be in great condition as the concrete is beginning to show signs of erosion.
To continue the connection between horses, the Bills and the Barwon, two other towns located on the river are fortunate enough to have Bills Troughs. One is at Birregurra, in Beal Street. The other is in Winchelsea, located - appropriately enough - outside the Barwon Hotel. With any luck I will remember to snap a photo or two next time I'm passing through.