Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council mayor Kenrick Winchester has delivered on his pledge to fix the historic 1930s water trough in Captains Flat.
After been alerted to the dysfunctional trough by this column earlier this year, it is now fully operational with updated plumbing and new float valve which means it is now always filled with fresh water for thirsty horses, dogs and other animals that pass through the village.
Of the more than 700 "Annis and George Bills" branded cast-concrete water troughs that were installed around south-east Australia in the 1930s and '40s following a bequest by the animal-loving couple, fewer than half remain in public locations. Many have been broken, lost or stolen and most of the remaining ones stand empty, forlorn on street corners or like the trough at Crookwell, transformed into a flowerpot.
The upgrade of the Captains Flat trough makes it just one of only a handful of working Annis and George Bills water troughs in Australia - a claim to fame for Captains Flat.
Jo Brissenden, who regularly rides her horses through the village, is ecstatic that the trough is fixed and "hopes it remains in working order for a long time to come".
"We are very lucky to have this trough in our village, it's part of our history which we need to keep alive," she says.
Meanwhile, I'm not the only tourist to be surprised by the site of an 'The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association' in suburban England.
On a recent visit to Bunhill in London, Lindsay Kranz was so surprised to glimpse one of the seemingly now incongruously placed troughs that the wide-eyed tourist captured a photo of it through the window of a passing taxi.
"Clearly there's not much call for the service in central London anymore given the weedy growth," says Lindsay, adding "imagine the meetings of this association".
CONTACT TIM: Email: tym@iinet.net.au or Twitter: @TimYowie or write c/- The Canberra Times, GPO Box 606, Civic, ACT, 2601
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