Historical information

The Furphy Water Cart, made in Shepparton is an iconic part of Australian manufacturing history. Troops gathered around these sturdy carts during WW1 to have a drink of water, to swap stories, and embellish them a bit along the way. This led eventually to the term 'furphy' entering the Australian vernacular, meaning a rumour, gossip or fake news.

Many people have probably heard ...

“GOOD, BETTER, BEST - NEVER LET IT REST - TILL YOUR GOOD IS BETTER - AND YOUR BETTER, BEST."

But the random squiggles across the centre of a Furphy water tank are not Arabic writing as many believe but Pitman Shorthand that translates as …

“WATER IS THE GIFT OF GOD, BUT BEER AND WHISKY ARE CONCOCTIONS OF THE DEVIL, COME AND HAVE A DRINK OF WATER”.

Several versions evolved over the decades and this 1942 cart also has an illustration of a stork holding a baby with more squiggles underneath, also in shorthand, which is a quote often first attributed to the WW1 Prime Minister Billy Hughes ...

"PRODUCE AND POPULATE OR PERISH”.

The Forests Commission owned lots of Furphy water tanks and Rocky Marsden managed to rescue and restore two of them which are at the North Altona workshops.

Physical description

Two Furphy water tanks