For over a century, Australians have enjoyed our traditional recipe first made famous by roving swagmen in need of a satisfyingly strong and refreshingly full flavoured cuppa. Savour the subtly smokey, distinctively toasty taste created by blending in fragrant Kooloo red leaf tea. For an authentic bush brew today, you don't need a billy and a swag, just a Billy Tea bag.
"And he sang as he looked at the old billy boiling, who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me" -Banjo Paterson
The original version of Banjo Paterson's 'Waltzing Matilda' was later adapted and used as an advertising jingle by the Billy Tea Company back in 1903. As history unfolded, it was the Billy Tea version that made the ditty famous! Banjo wrote this acclaimed poem at the Dagworth Homestead, a bush station in Queensland in 1895, a few years after the Billy Tea Company was established.
Where does the word 'Billy' come from? Well, it's said that the word was originally derived from the French word 'bouilli' - pronounced 'boo-illi' after a brand of imported tinned beef soup that was a staple food item consumed by Aussie diggers during the historic gold rush days. They would attach a wire handle to the empty tins and use this to boil water for tea. Thankfully, we now have electric kettles!
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