Why is the billy black?

[Maureen K Clifford]

I always thought they were left black as it dispenses the heat more quickly than the shiny surface. Bills tip works a treat and good for camp ovens as well but an old sugar bag is also handy to tip them into and keeps everything else clean.

You have an inquiring mind Stephen don't you?

[Stephen Whiteside]

Why would you want them to disperse heat, Maureen? Wouldn't you want them to hold onto the heat?

[william williams]

Maureen to answer your question why is a billy black no, it is not to keep the heat in.
After a bit of use it attains a dark blackish look and that is to stop the sunlight glare that can blind you or the sudden flash spook the cattle ( not so bad with sheep though)

How luck are you blokes hiking in the mountains with cool clear running streams to get your water from.

For days we carted our drinking water just for our personal use horses dogs and cattle drank from dams, bores and creeks often muddy and often the bores stank of sulphur and were hot you let the water stand over night in a large tub so the smell left over night then you boiled it to drink and cook with.
It may give you the trots till you got used to it.
Now a lot of dams are muddy as can be, but put the water in an open 44gallon drum with the top removed sprinkle a table spoon of Builders Lime over the top and don't move it and the discouloration will settle to the bottom and you can ladle the water out till you get close to the muddy bottom.

If the stock can drink from the dam or muddy creek so can you but make sure there is nothing drowned in the dam or upstream in the waterway

bill the old battler

[Maureen K Clifford]

that's what I meant Stephen - wrong word choice

[Stephen Whiteside]

Sounds like good advice, Bill.

Interesting to hear about the flash from a billy startling the cattle.

[r.magnay]

I wouldn't go to the extreme of renaming the comp Stephen, when I say I wash my billy it is still blaCK...

[Stephen Whiteside]

Phew! Thanks, Ross. Just in time!

[william williams]

digressing a little about the billy here is a little story that I wrote regarding water and it is true

Many eons in time ago Lessons were taught,
Before you became a man. ©


He was standing in the gully in the shade of the over hang with his son beside him
While the sand trickling through his toes he watched the pool below him
covered in green slime.
His son wondering what lesson he will learn before the day is through.
Finches, Budgerigars, Corellas, Cockatoos
Wallaroos and a Goanna were amongst them
As they came to drink, from that slime-encrusted water.
The old fella moved and so did all else, moving quickly away
He spoke in his native tongue to his son beside him, for he must first learn this lesson
but now rest of this story will be told in English


My son though you have never been to this water hole
you have seen from the birds and animals that the water is good
but not clean would you move the slime from the water my son
Father from you I must learn, but what must I do.
Son from this sand beside the pool one foot print away
you must scrape a shallow hole, but deep enough
that the water may filter through the sand
and deep enough that you may drink from it
and it will be cooler my son

Written by Bill Williams ©


Bill Williams the old battler

[Stephen Whiteside]

Clever.

[Zondrae]

..

my mum had an old kettle that she sat on the side of the Bega No3 so that, when needed the water would be almost boiling and could be hurriedly brought to bubbling. I scrubbed the bottom once and the kettle began to leak. Apparently the black was keeping the holes plugged up. Maybe some old 'billies' were like this.

Does anyone have a preference for the water that makes the best tea? At Lightning Ridge we stood our bore water in an open container for at least three days before you could drink it plain, but it made the best cuppa I've ever tasted.