Billycan

Letters to newspapers[9] in the early 20th century support this view and David George Stead quoting his father, who emigrated in 1862 aged 16, wrote "the term "billy can" was commonly used in south coastal England, to describe a "bouilli" can or tin.

[10] The preservation of foods in tin canisters began in 1812 at the firm of Donkin, Hall and Gamble in Bermondsey, England.

It occurs in idyllic description of a shepherd's life in South Australia: "near the wooden fire, is what is called the billy or tea-kettle".

[23] Named for the secretary of the Pastoralists' Union of New South Wales, this was the swagman's contemptuous term for billycans improvised from a tin can and a length of wire as carried by inexperienced travellers.

John Whiteley King (1857–1905) enticed hundreds of unemployed city men to the shearing sheds as a strike-busting strategy.