Water Play in the Pigs Trough

Beyond the farmyard, as far as the eye can see, thin branchless ringbarked trees stand tall. Their blackened bark beginning to fall away revealing ghostly white trunks. Two large low stumps, mark the dividing no-man’s land between the farmhouse buildings and the farm grounds proper. It is blanketed with gently swaying native grasses that obscure the uneven land riddled with potholes beneath. A place where rabbits set their traps digging borrows in unseen places, easily snapping a horse or man’s leg should they not be paying attention to their footfall.

Photographer unknown, Water play in the pig’s trough, circa 1939, Brucknell, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s private collection [T094]

Two children play in the foreground on the other side of no-man’s land near the house. Warrick, a boy of seven sits in an elevated metal feed trough with wooden legs facing forward. His arms raised to chin height are spread widely, hands flapping in delight as the cold stream of water hits his bare chest. He grins at his sister, Judy. She stands a few feet away facing Warrick in the metal laundry tub, dressed only in shorts. Her feet submerged, right foot securing the base of the portable pump beside her, her hand clasping the handle of its plunger. She pushes down deploying her entire weight, her thin wiry framed body swaying in response as she repeats the movement. Her left-hand holds the end of the pump’s long hose that winds behind her resting its middle section on the ground behind. She points the hose at her brother. The soft whoosh of the water finding its target causes her to squeal in delight.

The warm air swirls around them. A large and stocky pink sow with a distinctive large dark saddle-shaped patch on her back stands between the laundry tub and the currently occupied drinking trough. Standing chest height to the playing children she positions herself out of range of the water stream. She is double their combined weight, as are all the five pigs beside her that form a line from largest to smallest that stretches back to their enclosure through the open gate. Their large heads with their long snouts are bent down nudging the moistening soil, making deep guttural rumblings of satisfaction.

Unconcerned but at a respectable distance from both the children and the pigs are two white hens. Hearing the noise they move closer scratching in the short grassy uneven ground, fossicking for the insects aroused by the commotion and cool water.

Soon the tank water will be gone, a precious commodity that must be made to stretch the long summer months. Water play is a rare reprieve from the oppressive dry heat and a welcome distraction from the long summer days.

This post is part of  Sepia Saturday 503 : Saturday 18 January 2020

Sources

• Changing Landscapes – Farming and land clearing 
• Image Photographer unknown, Water play in the pig’s trough, circa 1939, Brucknell, Victoria, Australia, Sandra Williamson’s private collection [T094] (part of the Myrtle Sharp Collection)
• Interview, Mrs Judith Williamson by Sandra Williamson, 2015, Patterson Lakes, Victoria, Australia
• W. & B. Douglas (Firm). Illustrated Catalogue of Hand And Power Pumps, Hydrants, Etc. Edition: 1903. Middletown, Conn: [F.A. Bassette Co., 1903.]  accessed 19 January 2020