Kōrero: Picnics and barbecues

A woman boils billies over an open fire at the beach in the 1930s. The billy, a simple container for boiling water, was a standard item of picnic equipment for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. Billies could be bought ready-made, or manufactured at home from old jam tins with a bent wire handle attached. Fire restrictions and the widespread use of the thermos have meant that billies are less common in the 2000s.