Yep that one is definitely Aussie made at the foundry in Shepparton.

By the way, welcome to the forum.

I wrote this little bit of information up on early Furphy camp ovens for my Facebook page. Some don't agree but I think it gives us a pretty good indication when Furphy started making camp ovens.


Early Furphy Camp Ovens

Furphy camp ovens are one of the most collectable ovens in Australia yet their history is really not known. Furphy themselves seem to have no clue either and when I visited the Furphy Museum in Shepparton five years ago this was made very clear as the only camp oven on display was a Chinese made one.

Some say Furphy camp ovens were made 100 years ago, others say they weren’t made until the 1980’s and I have been told the first one was made in 1964. I do know a friend of ours bought one from Grice Stoves in Brisbane in about 1976 and others have mentioned getting theirs in the 1970’s. So, we may never know exactly when they were first made but there is no doubt they were made in the 1970’s.

I publicly say Furphy ovens are rough as guts, and they are, but they are very collectable and we have a number of them. Our 15” Furphy oven is a good oven to cook with though.

The first Furphy oven we bought is what we believe was one of their early ovens. It is an unusual size really as it measures 13 ¼” and I have wondered how they came to make that particular diameter. Yes, us camp oven fanatics do think about such things.

Anyway, in the past week or so I have come across not one but three posts on facebook pages showing four different Furphy camp ovens, and I was told about another, that looked a similar size to our old one. The thing about these ovens was that they all had long legs about two inches long. This was strange in that Furphy ovens, other than the 20”, usually have short legs that are really next to useless. The other interesting thing is that four of the owners clearly remember the ovens being purchased in the 1970’s with the other owner believing her father bought his oven in the 1970’s.

One of the posters showed a photo of underneath their oven and that is when I saw a familiar characteristic that I had seen on some of our own ovens. The thing is, not on our Furphy ovens, no, but on our 13” CC Harding & Sons ovens. Look at the first two photos; the first one is the Furphy and the second is of a 13” Harding oven. To me there is little doubt that a 13” Harding oven was used as the pattern for the Furphy oven. They both have that distinctive ring running half an inch or so in from the edge of the base and legs are near enough identical also.

I have since been in contact with the owners of these ovens and received detailed photos of them and they are all near enough the same so Furphy obviously had a production run of these ovens. Although they have the typical Furphy ears and handle, the bases were definitely patterned off a 13” CC Harding & Sons oven.

So why do I say the Furphy is a copy of the Harding and not the other way around? Check the  gate mark on the Harding oven and note its size and position; now look at the Furphy, it has an obviously long and narrow gate mark on the right but on the left it also shows that the oven they used as a pattern had a gate mark near enough identical to the Harding oven. This to me clearly shows a Harding oven was used as a pattern for the 13 ¼” Furphy oven.

I have photos of what I was told was the very first 10” Furphy camp oven ever made and it was said that it was cast in 1978. It too has long legs and you guessed it, it also was cast off a Harding camp oven, an 11” oven. The Furphy shows the Harding gate mark once again. We actually own one of these early 10” Furphy ovens with the long legs and it also clearly shows where the Harding gate mark was.

Lastly I have the measurements of these Furphy ovens and also measured a 10” one of ours and also measured our 13” & 11” Harding ovens. The Furphy ovens are, for example, approximately ⅛” smaller in in their diameters compared to the Harding ovens. This is indicative of an oven that is patterned off another; they are smaller in dimensions by a couple of percent because of shrinkage.

So, what can be gleaned from all this?

The very first thing is that Furphy used CC Harding & Sons camp ovens as patterns to make their early ovens.

Secondly, Furphy must not have made camp ovens prior to the early 1970’s because CC Harding & Sons never started making camp ovens until 1968 and they only made one oven the first year and six the next and these were for a specific customer which was not Furphy. So, I think this strongly suggests Furphy never made camp ovens prior to the early 1970’s.

Thirdly, there are five different people that all state they purchased these long legged 13” Furphy ovens in the 1970’s. Also there is that 10” Furphy oven which is said to have been first made in 1978. Some have given detailed accounts of when and where they purchased their ovens and a couple have also given the purchase price. Sure, all this is circumstantial evidence but for me I believe it shows these ovens were in fact made by the Furphy Foundry in Shepparton during the 1970’s.

There is quite a bit more I could say about other Furphy ovens but I will leave it for another time. I would like to say thanks to those who gave me information and supplied the many photos of their camp ovens.

I must admit I had a bit of a chuckle at how the Furphy camp oven is held in great esteem by some as the best camp oven ever made etc etc; so much better than any others.  The reality, however, is they copied another Australian camp oven makers ovens.

To help with the photos.

13 ¼” Furphy showing the long legs and gate marks etc.
13” CC Harding & Sons camp oven - notice the gate mark.
The 1978 10” Furphy oven that is said to be the very first one made. Note where the gate mark was on the Harding oven used as a pattern.
Our 10” Furphy oven with long legs. Note the Furphy gate mark and again where the gate mark was on the Harding oven used as a pattern.
One of our 11” CC Harding and Sons camp ovens. Note its gate mark shape and position.
Early 13 ¼” Furphy oven.
Another early 13 ¼” Furphy oven.
Early 13 ¼” Furphy oven.
Early 10” Furphy oven.
13” CC Harding and Sons camp oven pair.
11” CC Harding and Sons camp oven.

All intriguing isn’t it. Thanks Jeff.