Telling A Furphy

I was looking for a particular digital photo the other day, and, when skimming through my collection of about 50,000 photos,  I came across these ones that I had forgotten about.

These were taken a few years ago when Grandma C and I were driving through some of the sugarcane fields of far north Queensland.

On one of these roads, we came across the Sugar Museum just south of Innisfail and stopped to take a look.   Inside, this horse drawn water tank captured my interest.

I like that little rhyme just above the tap.

I had read long ago, when trying to learn whatever I can of my adopted homeland, that such tanks were purported to be the origin of a common Australian colloquialism, ie, "telling a furphy", and was very pleased to have finally caught sight of one of them.

The meaning of a furphy can be found in online dictionaries like the one below:

Supposedly, WW1 soldiers would gather round the water tank and tell tall stories, and from there came the saying "telling a furphy".

Wikipedia has more info on other possible origins of "telling a furphy" here.