Like chockers and cossie, furphy is one of those quintessentially Australian words. It entered the national lexicon in WWI, courtesy of the fact that one of the Australian Army’s suppliers of water carts was John Furphy, a blacksmith and foundry owner from Shepparton, Victoria, whose family name was emblazoned on every unit he supplied.

Over time, the shared rumours and tall tales told by soldiers, when they congregated to fill their flasks, came to be known as furphies.

Fast-forward 100 years and two of John’s great-great grandsons, cousins Adam and Sam Furphy, remain stalwarts of the country’s metal-based manufacturing industry. And of the Shepparton community where they continue to live and work.

Adam’s arm of the family business operations, J Furphy & Sons, designs and manufactures stainless steel vessels and storage tanks for the food processing, beverage, chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

“If you go into Coles or Bunnings and look at anything liquid – paint, solvents, mineral oils, milk, yoghurt, beer – the companies that manufacture those products are our customers,” Adam says.

Some of those companies are near neighbours, given Shepparton has long been a food processing hub.

“There would be at least 10 food processing businesses within a one-hour drive from here that employ a couple of hundred people or more and those places tend to be labyrinths of stainless steel pipes and tanks,” Adam says.

The other division of his business, Furphy Galvanizing, provides hot dip galvanizing services for clients in the steel fabrication industry from its Shepparton base and factories in Albury and Geelong. Fabrication, industrial blast and painting services round out the business.

Right next door, Sam and his team at Furphy Foundry have built a big business out of designing, producing and installing community infrastructure products for parks and other public spaces – think shelters, public rest rooms, pedestrian bridges, seats, barbecues and litter bins.

There is a huge array of designs, prefabricated and supplied flat-packed primarily to local and state governments and education authorities, architects and contractors.

Being able to purchase well-priced turnkey infrastructure solutions that are compliant with building codes has proved an attractive proposition. Orders range from around $5,000 for a few bins to north of a million for major projects.

“Communities these days expect a certain standard of amenity and we make it easy to provide these solutions,” Sam says. “One day there may be nothing there and the next there’s a beautiful public facility.”

Between them, the Furphy manufacturing businesses provide skilled employment for close to 200 engineering metal trade workers, boilermakers and sheet metal fabricators, among them a steady stream of apprentices and a couple of father-son teams.

Maintaining the family’s proud manufacturing legacy and contributing to the prosperity of the district is satisfying and rewarding.

“We really appreciate the strength that comes from living and working in a regional community,” Adam says. “Shepparton has always been a great place to grow a business. People around here see us as part of the furniture, literally in Sam’s case!”

NAB has supported Furphy-owned enterprises since the 1990s. Senior Business Banking Manager Cameron Hammond says Adam and Sam continue to demonstrate how intergenerational businesses can innovate, evolve and prosper.

“When they come to us with ideas, we work together to make them work,” he says. “We’re proud to partner with them on their growth journeys.”