Milk can, billy can, butter churn


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Posted by Mike Field on August 13, 2006 at 02:27:13 from 203.129.52.66 user mikefield.

In Reply to: Re: What is a posted by Kathy_S on August 13, 2006 at 01:32:25:

Out here, the big can is a "milk-can", the little one like Roger's or the one kicked off the staithe is a "billy-can" (or more usually, "billy," and which was normally provided with a lid, not always used,) and the gadget used to make butter was a "butter-churn."

The first two are still in use in country towns, and for all I know butter-churns are also still used on self-supporting farms. (A friend of mine used to make her own butter and cream on a hobby farm by this method. Lovely stuff it was, too.)

"Billy tea" of course is tea made in a billy, the standard drink of the stock-riders of legend in outback Oz. You'd pour cold wtaer into the billy, sit it on the fire until the water boiled, throw in enough handfuls of tea to make a good strong brew (and traditionally a gum-leaf or two as well if they were handy.) After the brew had stewed for a few minutes you'd take the billy off the fire and twirl it round in vertical arm-length circles several times to settle the leaves before pouring. Then it would go back on the fire to keep hot (and stew some more.) If more tea was eventually wanted you either would, or wouldn't, top up the billy with more water and another couple of handfuls of tea leaves.


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