Career

In 1978, at the age of 28, Charles was exposed to watersports in New York through the Mineshaft Barometer Returning to Australia, Charles realised at the Signal Bar in Sydney how he could incorporate his newly discovered interest in watersports into the bar which lacked special facilities. He did this by using the shared urinal, or trough, common in Australian pubs and clubs.

This habit resulted in the name Troughman being applied to Charles.

Describing his sexual experience, Troughman began by crouching down and leaning against the urinal, before engaging in the signature activity he is most famous for, "it becomes easy to let myself go completely and, no longer kneeling or crouching, I lie right down in the urinal." Troughman also engaged in other watersports, and recalls having used bandana code. According to Robert Reynolds by the early 2000s in the Sydney gay community "Troughman has become a cultural icon, an almost mythical figure," and that Troughman was particularly famous for his role in the Sydney Mardi Gras parties.

By 1996 Troughman had been mentioned in the mainstream media in relation to the Sleaze Balliol An interview with Barry by Kerry Bashford appeared in Campaign magazine, accompanied by a photograph by Garrie Maguire.

Sponge magazine, a small underground design magazine edited by Mark Sykes, also ran a story, again Maguire was commissioned to make the accompanying photograph, though it did not get printed, due to its literal interpretation of the subject.

The photo was later seen in a Leather pride exhibition. Participant of the myth of Troughman included persistent rumours of death. Troughman"s cultural impact entered into mainstream Australian culture, where by 2007, his practices could be referred to off-hand in relation to public urinals, and comprise part of contemporary Australian myth.

The 1998 film Troughman directed by Kellie Henneberry was screened at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in United States.