John Furphy
One of Furphy's farm water carts.
John Furphy (17 June 1842 – 23 September 1920) was a blacksmith, best known for his Furphy Water Carts that were an important part of Australia's history. The Furphy Water Carts appeared throughout the country and were used by the army in World War I, e.g. at Gallipoli. The Australian slang term "furphy" for an unbelievable story or rumour is believed to derive from the use of the water carts as a gathering place for soldiers to swap gossip.
John's brother Joseph is also well known as one of Australia's pioneer novelists.
References
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.