Boiling the Billy

What does boiling the billy mean? It’s Australian for ‘put the kettle on’ or boil some water for tea!

A billy is a small metal can used for boiling water over an open fire. It’s short for billycan.

It almost always means to ‘make tea’ but if you are sitting around an open fire (camping for example) and someone says “I’ll boil the billy” this can just mean “boil some water” for coffee, tea or washing up water.