Rumours Around the Office Water Cooler: Walwa to Tallangatta
One of the many joys of cycle touring in rural Australia is seeing snippets of history that are fast disappearing. The word ‘Furphy’ is one example.
In WWI Australian troops in Northern France frontline areas were supplied with water from horse drawn, wheeled water tanks. They were designed and built from cast iron by Furphy Bros. a foundry firm founded in a town called Shepparton not far from where I am now in northern Victoria.
The mobile water tankers became gathering points, and talking places, for the Australian frontline soldiers. Of course where people gather, they gossip. In the absence (and even in the presence) of facts, they speculate and spread rumours. You know. The office water cooler syndrome.
In time, the battlefield rumours which started and spread at the cast iron water tankers became known as Furphys in honour of the brand of tanker. This is a long way of telling you that today in Walwa I saw a Furphy tanker, and if an Australian says to you, “That’s a furphy!” they are telling you to stop talking BS.
Other than this linguistic highlight I had a pleasant ride ... mostly on backroads, a bit of highway and about 8km of very welcome rail trail which led me to the small, lake-backwater town of Tallangatta.
Today was a fun day. It included loggers, a town that drowned, a blue eyed bird and my bike falling in love with a pot plant. There was also a wild dog shooter in the caste of characters. But no pic of him for obvious reasons.
For anyone wanting to ride from Walwa to Tallangatta, don’t follow my route unless you want a hill climb. I have been told there is a flatter, more aquatically scenic route closer to the Murray river on the Victorian side through a place called Granya. Try that one and let me know what it is like.
A Furphy water tank. The cast iron ends, and chassis look mostly original. The tank looks like a replacement.
I had a diplomatic chat with the drivers of one of these trucks. He suggested I ride a goat track through the hills instead of use the public road. I pointed out that I can hear and see trucks so far ahead that sharing the road is not a problem. After that discussion I was on waving terms with the log truck drivers. UHF radio must have been working overtime.
Look carefully. Under that water is a town. The rail embankment is still there. On the far bank are some buildings which weren’t submerged by Lake Hume when the river was dammed. The map explains.
