“The setting of “Waltzing Matilda” is enough to fuel a deep yearning within Australians to escape from the concrete cities of the urban fringes. To travel the outback, with my swag all on my shoulder, to witness the stark beauty and isolation of this most ancient of lands, to lie beneath the Southern Cross, to smell the unique perfume of the eucalypt, is a dream, a quest that sends thousands of wanderers towards the red centre each year, in search of just such a place. To lie while the billy boils, to dream by a billabong, under the shade of a Coolabah tree is akin to finding the eternal Garden of Eden.”
Heather Blakey

No utensil is so generally used in the bush as the billy-can; none is more widely distributed, none better known in Australia. It is cheap, light, useful and a burden to no man. It goes with every traveller, it figures in comedy, art, writing and tragedy, and has been the repository of the last words of many a perished swagman. Often it is found with the grim message scratched on the bottom beside the dead owner.

Billies are of all sizes – from one to six quartz. Some hard up swagmen improvise by making a billy out of a fruit tin, with a bit of fencing wire for a handle.

Heather Blakey, the webmaster of the Soul Food Cafe and Outback Online is, amongst many things, a Billabong Dreamer. She likes to sit by the billabong, typing, recalling, giving voice to her great grandfather, George Chale Watson, who spent seven years surveying the Never Never.

By the Billabong, Heather has her hardy laptop which she uses to build niche, virtual communities. She also has a simple swag, a billy and her companion animal

So while the billy sits on the fire boiling, and you wait for that bush tea, share a story or two with your friends.

Heather Blakey
Soul Food Cafe