Dog on the Tuckerbox
The dog that sits on the tucker box five miles from Gundagai in New South Wales is arguably Australia's most famous dog as far as Australian folklore is concerned. It had its beginnings along with the men who ventured south/west from Sydney town to begin to develop inland Australia. But the complete story is really ironical.
The Irony of that 'Dog on the Tuckerbox'!
I recall as a child that long two-lane road from Melbourne to Sydney and stopping half way. There was the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' statue! It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, and we had trouble even finding it down what I remember as a dirt track! A few years later in May 1953, I was horrified to find a fence around it. I had my very first camera at the time, and took the accompanying photograph.
It was not until I was doing my radio programme last year that I researched the statue and its ironical history. I now share this with all dog lovers - and all Australians!
The Origin of the Pivotal Word 'Sat'
To understand how the fable began about this marvellous Australian icon, let's first explore our English language - in particular the origin of the word 'shit'. One explanation goes back centuries to when faeces from cities was dumped at sea, transported by boat. It could not be stored below deck because many of the old boats leaked and when the faeces became wet, methane gas was produced. Just imagine combining this situation with exposed flames of torches used in those days. The escaping gas would fuel an explosion causing diaster for all on board! To solve the problem, faeces containers were stored above deck and were labelled S.H.I.T., which literally meant "Ship High In Transit". This is why the word 'shit' first became associated with and hence slang for faeces! Of course the past tense of 'shit' is 'shat'!
With this in mind, it's easy to understand the irony of just how this dog, immortalized by a statue, became a famous Australian icon because of his unacceptable behaviour!
The Original Writers of the Fable
Like most early folklore, the exact origins of the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' are clouded in mystery, uncertainty and controversy. But its origins certainly lie in the Australian bush and those early pioneers who travelled south and west from Sydney, stopping in the Gundagai district in the period around 1830. These were hard and hazardous times with supplies and stores having to be transported by bullock wagons along makeshift tracks over rough and difficult terrain. If the bullock driver had to leave his team and seek help, his dog would guard his master's possessions while he was away.
The 'bullockies' would recite ditties and rhymes picked up on their travels and sometimes write a few lines to pass the time while bogged, and/or waiting for the river level to fall at crossings. At such a time, it was by the action of one such dog fouling foodstuffs in the tucker box that the fable arose. There are many different versions all ending in:
. . . for Nobby Jack has broke the yoke,
Poked out the leader's eye
and the dog shat on the tucker box,
Five miles from Gundagai.
One can only speculate whether the tuckerbox was properly closed at the time and what it was made of! Maybe it was wicker or some type of canvas but without doubt, it would not have been waterproof! Coupled with the lack of wrapping available for foodstuffs in those days, anyone who has ever owned a dog can only imagine the fouling of the food that took place by the dog's misdemeanour! Such was the humour that sparked the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' legend.
The Development of a Fable
Old residents of the district recalled these amusing lines of the verse. Mr. Collins, a newsagent and keen businessman, commissioned Tom Kinnane, a reporter on the Gundagai 'Independent' newspaper, to piece together the other missing lines of the original poem. Consequently another version appeared on many souvenirs and matchbox covers that were distributed throughout the land.
So the 'original' as Collins called it that was printed at the 'Gundagai Times' in 1880 would have been different to that which was penned fifty years before! This version was written under the nom-de-plume of 'Bowyang Yorke'. It read as follows:
As I was coming down Conroy's Gap,
I heard a maiden cry;
'There goes Bill the Bullocky,
He's bound for Gundagai.A better poor old beggar
Never earnt an honest crust,
A better poor old beggar
Never drug a whip through dust.'His team got bogged at the nine mile creek,
Bill lashed and swore and cried;
'If Nobby don't get me out of this,
I'll tattoo his bloody hide.'But Nobby strained and broke the yoke,
And poked out the leader's eye;
Then the dog sat on the Tucker Box
Nine miles from Gundagai.
When one reads the tone of the poem, it is easy to see that even in this early reproduction, the word 'sat' has been changed from 'shat'! Probably because it happened in the area of Nine Mile Creek, five miles was also changed to nine miles.
Political Correctness?
In 1923, Jack Moses wrote a booklet 'Beyond the City Gates' which told the fable about the famous dog. He considered the 'Bowyang Yorke' text to be crude and rude and hence politically incorrect. So amended it into the following verse called 'Nine Miles from Gundagai', which became famous throughout Australia, both in the bush and in the cities. It reads:
I've done my share of shearing sheep,
Of droving and all that;
And bogged a bullock team as well,
On a Murrumbidgee flat.Nine miles from Gundagai.
I've been jilted, jarred and crossed in love,
I've seen the bullock stretch and strain
And blink his bleary eye,And the dog sit on the tuckerbox
And sand-bagged in the dark,
Till if a mountain fell on me,
I'd treat it as a lark.It's when you've got your bullocks bogged,
That's the time you flog and cry,
And the dog sits on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.We've all got our little troubles,
In life's hard, thorny way.
Some strike them in a motor car
And others in a dray.But when your dog and bullocks strike,
It ain't no apple pie,
And the dog sat on the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.But that's all past and dead and gone,
And I've sold the team for meat,
And perhaps, some day where I was bogged,
There'll be an asphalt street,The dog, ah! well he got a bait,
And thought he'd like to die
So I buried him in the tuckerbox
Nine miles from Gundagai.
The Building of the Statue
But the arguably most impact on the 'Dog on the Tucker Box's' immortality is its famous statue. Around 1926, an unknown resident hoisted the first dog 'monument' at site of five miles (pictured) from Gundagai, probably the result of the fame of Jack Moses' poem.
Consequently, local stonemason and sculptor Frank Rusconi was commissioned to make a proper statue. So, the statue that stands today was unveiled on Monday, 28th November 1932 by the then Prime Minister of Australia, Mr. J.A (Joe) Lyons.
It is ironic in itself that this statue should become Frank Rusconi's best-known work. Frank Rusconi was a very talented man. Before he came to Australia, among his other works is the marble stairway in Westminster Abbey. He also worked on the altar of Saint Marie's Cathedral in Paris. However, as a local Gundagai resident and proud Australian, Rusconi took 28 years and 20,948 individual pieces of marble, each piece cut, turned and polished by hand to produce an amazing work, a cathedral in miniature.
This cathedral, plus a replica of the altar of Saint Marie's Cathedral in Paris, now stands in the Gundagai Tourist and Visitor Information Centre. All the marble was sourced from quarries in NSW. Although Rusconi worked on the original alter in Paris, no plans, drawings or construction charts have ever been found. It appears he did the work entirely by sight, to demonstrate to his peers back in Italy the quality and variety of stone to be found in Australia. It is also ironic that neither of these wonderful sculptures ever received the fame of the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox'.
Gundagai's fame was further immortalised by Jack O'Hagan in 1937 in his popular songs 'Along the Road to Gundagai' and 'My Mabel waits for me' that put the town on the world map. As time went by, controversy continued over the exact location of the monument. Should the famous monument be moved closer to the town? And was it 5 or 9 miles from Gundagai?
Today's National Icon
Today tourists have solved the problem with the conglomeration of buildings that now surround the famous statue. 'The Dog on the Tuckerbox' is an appropriate half way toilet stop when driving that long dual carriageway between Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne. I wonder how many who stop, reflect about the irony of how today's fast foods have immortalized our pioneers' primitive tuckerbox!
From a ditty about a dog that fouled in a tuckerbox long ago in inclement weather, to a 'must see' attraction that stands on some arbitrary spot five miles from Gundagai! So, the irony of the story of the 'Dog on the Tuckerbox' lives on.