Editing Billycan (section)

==Usage==
[[Image:Billycan-campfire.jpg|thumb|right|A traditional billycan on a campfire]]

The term ''billy'' or ''billycan'' is particularly associated with Australian usage, but is also used in New Zealand, and to a lesser extent Britain and Ireland.<ref>[http://www.arklowseascouts.ie/jam08/infopack.pdf Sceilig: Information Pack for Troops] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721122100/http://www.arklowseascouts.ie/jam08/infopack.pdf |date=July 21, 2011 }} (p. 4) and [http://www.thedump.scoutscan.com/PatrolCamp.pdf The Patrol goes to Camp] (pp. 9, 11)</ref>

In Australia, the billy has come to symbolise the spirit of exploration of the outback and is a widespread symbol of [[The bush|bush]] life, although now regarded mostly as a symbol of an age that has long passed.<ref name="nma.gov.au"/>

To ''boil the billy'' most often means to make [[tea]]. This expression dates from the [[Australian gold rushes]] and probably earlier.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91930723 Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Vic. : 1851 - 1856) Tue 28 Sep 1852, page 2, EUREKA DIGGINGS]</ref> "Billy Tea" was the name of a popular brand of tea long sold by Australian grocers and supermarkets.<ref name=waltzing>{{cite web |title=Waltzing Matilda, courtesy of a tea-leaf near you|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/19/1040174344781.html|date=2002-12-10|author=John Safran|author-link=John Safran|work=[[Sydney Morning Herald]]|accessdate=2013-09-29}}</ref> Billies feature in many of [[Henry Lawson]]'s stories and poems. [[Banjo Paterson]]'s most famous of many references to the billy is surely in the first verse and chorus of [[Waltzing Matilda]]: "Waltzing Matilda and leading a waterbag", which was later changed by the Billy Tea Company to "And he sang as he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled&nbsp;...".<ref name=waltzing />